The man known as the “QAnon Shaman” said he was only trying to spread good vibes and the word of God when he broke into the Capitol — and even stopped a brazen thief from swiping muffins from the break room.
Jacob Chansley, 33, who made national headlines for donning horns, face paint and a fur hat during the Jan. 6 riot, said in his first interview from jail that he was hoping to “bring divinity, and to bring God back into the Senate.”
“I sang a song. And that’s a part of shamanism. It’s about creating positive vibrations in a sacred chamber,” the Arizona man said in an interview that aired Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”
The "QAnon Shaman" of the January 6th attack on the Capitol tells his story for the first time from jail, as he faces up to 20 years behind bars.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 4, 2021
Jacob Chansley spoke with @60minutes+'s @LaurieSegall pic.twitter.com/uhUuFNHRvf
“I also stopped people from stealing and vandalizing that sacred space, the Senate. OK? I actually stopped somebody from stealing muffins out of the, out of the break room,” he told correspondent Laurie Segall in the interview, which was recorded in mid-February.
Videos and photos from the deadly siege showed Chansley bare-chested and wielding a spear with an American flag fastened below the tip of the blade.
The accused rioter was famously photographed sitting in the Senate chamber seat of former Vice President Mike Pence, and he allegedly left a note threatening Pence.
Chansley somewhat apologized for his actions last month, asking people to “be patient with me and other peaceful people who, like me, are having a very difficult time piecing together all that happened to us, around us, and by us.”
The shamanic practitioner unsuccessfully sought a pardon from former President Donald Trump.
In the CBS interview that aired Thursday, Chansley he said that his “actions were not an attack on this country” and that he regrets believing that entering the Capitol “was acceptable.”
