What a difference it makes when one’s actions put him on the wrong side of the law.
It seems that convictions are fleeting when there’s real skin in the game — though it may be a stretch to suggest a “QAnon Shaman” wearing a horned bearskin headdress has convictions worth noting.
With a growing number of people being arrested for unlawful actions in the storming of the U.S. Capitol, the lawyer representing the shirtless character who became one of the faces of the January 6 violence is trying to use former President Donald Trump as a convenient scapegoat.
The cowardly tactic comes in defense of Jacob Anthony Chansley, as attorney Albert Watkins told KSDK-TV that his client “regrets very, very much having not just been duped by the President, but by being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position to make decisions he should not have made.”
Capitol rioters express regret for participating in unrest after not getting a pardon from former President Trump https://t.co/KoYw0CMJRM
— KSDK News (@ksdknews) January 23, 2021
In effect, Watkins is running with the popular media narrative that Trump incited the group that broke away from a rally to storm the Capitol — never mind that the FBI has reportedly uncovered evidence suggesting the violent action was pre-planned.
By arguing that Chansley was all but “invited” by Trump to take action, the lawyer is putting Trump on trial, not his client.
“Let’s roll the tape. Let’s roll the months of lies, and misrepresentations and horrific innuendo and hyperbolic speech by our president designed to inflame, enrage, motivate,” Watkins told the news outlet. “What’s really curious is the reality that our president, as a matter of public record, invited these individuals, as President, to walk down to the Capitol with him.”
Such a defense is sure to be a hit with the corrupt media establishment consumed with its desire to finish off Trump once and for all.
There have been at least 116 people from around the country arrested for their actions that fateful day — it’s a marvel to behold watching the FBI track down the protesters, largely through video footage, although Black Lives Matter rioters seem exempt from such impressive policing.
Watkins’ earlier posture, when Trump was in office, was to ask for a pardon, saying his client “felt he was answering the call of our President.”
Capitol riot suspect Jacob Chansley, known as the “Qanon shaman,” is asking for a pardon from President Trump, saying he believed Trump had invited him to enter the Capitol, says his attorney.
My client “felt he was answering the call of our President,” says Albert Watkins. pic.twitter.com/iccAp5sRDO
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) January 15, 2021
“It would be appropriate and honorable for the president to pardon Chansley and other like-minded, peaceful individuals who accepted the president’s invitation with honorable intentions,” Watkins said, as only an attorney could.
Chansley was indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, but Watkins said Chansley was unarmed and nonviolent.
“He just walked in with the whole crowd that was walking in on the peaceful side of things,” the lawyer said, stressing his client did not break through doors or windows.
Citing a detention motion filed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that prosecutors said Chansley was one of the first rioters to enter the building, and disobeyed a police officer ordering him to leave, going to the Senate floor instead, where he sat in a seat vacated by Vice President Mike Pence just minutes before.
As for his get-up that day, Watkins said, “His attire was consistent with his long-held Shaman beliefs.”
The newspaper also noted that prosecutors said Chansley is unemployed, has mental health issues — and is a regular user of psychedelic drugs, including mushrooms and peyote.
You know, as the media would have you believe, a run-of-the-mill Republican.
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Tom@bizpacreview.com
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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