Jacob Chansley, who is best known as the “QAnon Shaman” from the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, has been released from prison, according to his lawyer.
“For the record: Jake is out on schedule,” tweeted his lawyer, Bill Shipley, early Thursday morning.
For the record:
Jake is out on schedule. I told him 16 months ago in our first conversation it would be Feb. or Mar. 2023.
BOP math.
I didn't do anything extraordinary–this was always the schedule, I just understood it and could explain it to him.
He was expecting 12 more mos.— Shipwreckedcrew.substack.com (@shipwreckedcrew) March 30, 2023
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website showed on Thursday that Chansley, a 35-year-old from Arizona, has been moved to a Residential Reentry Management office in Phoenix.
“I told him 16 months ago in our first conversation it would be Feb. or Mar. 2023,” Shipley added. “BOP. math. I didn’t do anything extraordinary — this was always the schedule, I just understood it and could explain it to him. He was expecting 12 more mos.”
Chansley became a sort-of mascot of the U.S. Capitol breach, sticking out of the crowd with his appearance. He was shirtless, wore a horned helmet and face paint, and carried a spear with an American flag attached.
Court documents said he scaled the Senate dais and took the seat that Vice President Mike Pence had occupied before the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory was disrupted.
There, refusing to vacate the seat when asked to do so by law enforcement, Chansley said that “Mike Pence is a f***ing traitor” and wrote a note on available paper on the dais, stating “It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!” according to the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors charged Chansley with multiple crimes, but Chansley pleaded guilty to one felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding, and in November 2021 he was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
In recent weeks, Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired security footage that he said appears to show Capitol Police officers escorting Chansley throughout the building as “tour guides.” U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger took issue with how Carlson portrayed the footage, calling the assertion about “tour guides” untrue.
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In his tweet thread Thursday morning, Shipley signaled that he differed in opinion with the person who had been Chansley’s trial lawyer and indicated that Chansley will speak out publicly about what happened to him one day.
“Jake will make his thoughts known about all that has happened when it is the right time to do so,” he tweeted.