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Capitol Rioter ‘QAnon Shaman’ Moved To Virginia Jail After Requesting An Organic Diet

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: A protester is seen inside the US Capitol Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators said they would reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to audit the election results. Pro-Trump protesters entered the U.S. Capitol building during demonstrations in the nation's capital.
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On Thursday, the rioter known as “QAnon Shaman,” who was among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 in Washington, D.C., was transferred from a jail in the nation’s capital to a jail in Virginia after “a federal judge ordered corrections officials to provide the man with organic food.”

Also known as Jacob Chansley, the 33-year-old was arrested three days after insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol building, charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.” He had turned himself in to the FBI field office in Phoenix, Arizona.

On Wednesday, an emergency motion was filed by Albert Watkins, Chansley’s lawyer, arguing that Chansley “practices shamanism and believes ‘that non-organic food, which contains unnatural chemicals, would act as an ‘object intrusion’ onto his body and cause serious illness if he were to eat it.’”

“Because of my being a Shamanic practitioner, I only eat traditional food that has been made by God.  This means no GMO’s, herbicides, pesticides, or artificial preservatives or artificial colors,” Chansley added in the motion. 

“I have not eaten anything since Monday morning @ approx. 8:15 a.m.  Being w/o food is stressful due to the way it affects my serotonin levels.  As a spiritual man, I don’t mind fasting for a few days, but 5 days is the longest I have ever gone w/o food/fasted for.  I am humbly requesting a few organic canned vegetables, canned tuna (wild caught), or organic canned soups.  If I have to go a week w/o food or longer then so be it.  I will stay committed to my spiritual/religious beliefs even if it means I suffer physically. I will continue to pray through the pain and do my best not to complain.  I simply ask that you understand that the physical effects of not eating organic are harmful to my body & bio-chemistry.”

Chansley continued, claiming that he becomes sick when he strays from his organic diet and that he is willing to suffer for his beliefs.

“I have strayed from my spiritual diet only a few times over the last 8 years with detrimental physical effects,” he wrote. 

“As a spiritual man I am wiling to suffer for my beliefs, hold to my convictions, and the bare weight of their consequences.  I simply ask that an exception plz be made for my special circumstances. the last facility I was @ in Arizona made such an exception for the short duration of my visit there.  I kindly & humbly ask that a brief exception be made in this location as well.  Please Chaplin [sic] as a man of God I ask that you please try to understand my convictions and plead my case to the necessary parties.  Thank you.”

According to Watkins, Chansley has lost 20 pounds since his transfer from Arizona to Washington D.C., having refused to eat the nonorganic food provided, going “nine days without eating.” 

“Chansley, who calls himself the ‘QAnon Shaman,’ considers eating organic food to be part of his “shamanic belief system and way of life,” the lawyer said,” reported The Associated Press.

“On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said the U.S. Marshals Service told the court that the District of Columbia Department of Corrections had asked for Chansley to be moved because they couldn’t honor the court’s order to feed him organic food,” the report continued.

“The judge said jail officials in nearby Alexandria could accommodate the special diet.”

Chansley, who also goes by Jake Angeli, made his first court appearance in a Phoenix federal courtroom on January 11, appearing telephonically from the quarantine section of a detention facility. According to Melissa Blasius, a reporter with ABC15, Chansley’s mother said that he hadn’t “eaten since Friday because the detention facility won’t feed him all organic food.”

“He gets very sick if he doesn’t eat organic food — literally will get physically sick,” Martha Chansley said, referring to her son as a “patriot” and the “gentlest person I know.”

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