While requests for the release of the so-called “QAnon Shaman” based on the footage shown by Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on January 6 continue to mount, a new video circulating online purports to be the phone conversation Jacob Chansley made to the FBI to authenticate his identification.
Following the breach of the Capitol on January 7, 2021, corporate media continued covering the protest wall-to-wall, portraying it as an attempted coup and an insurrection, featuring a man with face paint, a horned cap, bare-chested with tattoos as the poster boy for right-wing extremism. Chansley called the authorities to identify himself and open a dialogue with them.
On January 8, 2021, a Statement of Facts from a U.S. Capitol Police agent assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division to U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey established this. A video credited to the “Forbidden Truth” podcast alleges to feature excerpts from this call.
Chansley tells the FBI he is calling because he heard they had been searching for him. A man thought to be Chansley, dressed in a suit and tie with an American flag-patterned bandana and sunglasses, told the FBI that he was the guy in the horns at the Capitol building and was being considered a person of interest. He told the FBI he was calling to nip it in the bub. Describing how he was being referred to as a “person of interest” for “illegal entry into the Senate,” Chansley added that he was not the sort of man who would run and hide. He said he never did that and did not believe in avoiding problems. He said he is a brave man who believes in the truth. Chansley stated he believes in his trust in God and the nation. Therefore he was phoning to find out what the FBI wanted to discuss.
After the call, he is given a number, likely to the FBI Washington Field Office, and says, God, bless you, sir, and thank you for your service.
In the second segment of the tape, he seems to talk to the Washington Field Office, stating much the same without providing details or identifying who was on the other end of the conversation.
After generating a short timeline of January 6, the special agent Statement of Facts indicates that YouTube videos on Chansley’s channel and his “Arizona DMV driver’s license photo” were utilized to validate the resemblance.
In addition, on January 7, 2021, Chansley voluntarily visited the FBI’s Washington Field Office to meet with law authorities, according to the statement. An FBI affiant and an FBI agent met with Chansley, who affirmed that he was the man wearing face paint and a headdress sitting in the Vice President’s chair in the Senate. Chansley stated that he arrived with other ‘patriots’ from Arizona at the President’s request that all ‘patriots’ come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.
Previous footage shows the man being escorted through the Capitol by police officers who appeared to assist him in finding his way to the Senate floor. It also shows him standing outside and reading a tweet from then-President Donald Trump urging everyone to return home peacefully. Elon Musk posted the latter and added, “Release Jacob Chansley.”
Chansley’s future is uncertain, but Julie Kelly of American Greatness stated there was no way in hell a legitimate inquiry, much alone a thorough review of the material, had been done before his indictment five days after the breach.
Kelly tweeted that January 6 was Wednesday. The grand jury convened on January 8. A grand jury indicted Chansley, the first J6er, on January 11 for ‘obstruction of an official procedure,’ post-Enron legislation that was never intended to penalize political dissent, she continued, adding a banana emoji before “republic.”