Former lawyer for 'QAnon Shaman' says Jan. 6 footage wasn't shown to client, calls prison sentence a 'tragedy'
Albert Watkins told Tucker Carlson the omission is a 'dagger at the heart of our American justice system'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The ex-lawyer for Jacob Chansley, the Navy veteran known widely in the media as the "QAnon Shaman" for his outlandish look during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, told Fox News' Tucker Carlson he had not seen the newly-released footage that could have aided his client against federal charges.
Chansley, who famously went shirtless and donned face paint and a horned hat while carrying an American flag on the day Congress certified President Biden's election victory, was portrayed as the leader of pro-Trump rioters who violently attacked Capitol Police officers and defaced the Capitol Building. However, the over 40,000 hours of Capitol footage exclusively obtained by "Tucker Carlson Tonight" show him being escorted around by Capitol Police without incident.
At one point, at least nine police officers were seen in close proximity to Chansley, and none of them slowed him down.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Footage shared by Tucker Carlson showed Jacob Chansley, better known as the "QAnon Shaman," being escorted around the Capitol Building with police officers without incident. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Chansley was later arrested and federally charged for "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds." He was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Albert Watkins, the former attorney for Chansley, told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that he had not seen the Jan. 6 footage first shared Monday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" while serving his client.
Watkins said the footage proves Chansley did not have all the evidence to decide whether he should go to trial or take a plea. (He ultimately took a plea.}
Jacob Chansley, better known as the "QAnon Shaman" whose face was plastered across the media's Jan. 6 coverage, was not shown the footage of him walking around the Capitol with police officers before he took a plea deal, according to his attorney. (Alexandria Sheriff's Office)
"This is a man who had tremendous intelligence, [is] very gentle, very, very articulate who was diagnosed 15 years earlier by the government with a mental health issue- and the government knew that," Watkins told Carlson. "The government knew through three hearings when we begged and pleaded to get this man out of solitary confinement, literally falling into an abyss, mentally."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And through each of those three hearings that government assistant U.S. attorney knew the most important aspect of that hearing was that Jake was not violent. The government knew," he continued. "They knew that Jake had walked around with all of these police officers. They had that video footage I didn't get. It wasn't disclosed to me. It wasn't provided to me."
Jacob Chansley was derided by the media and portrayed as being the leader of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The attorney called Chansley's prison sentence a "tragedy" and a "dagger at the heart of our American justice system."
"This is about our justice system being so compromised, the very integrity and core of that, which we wore as a badge of honor for the entirety of our nation's history, has been rendered a vile, disgusting mess by a Department of Justice that was running amok," Watkins said. "And they didn't share the video of my client, the footage from my client with nine officers surrounding him peacefully, wandering about, trying to help them, trying to get him access to the Senate chamber. They didn't because it didn't fit their narrative."