The Jan. 6 rioter known as the “QAnon shaman” has made his plans clear in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s massive clemency grant to those convicted in connection with the insurgency: he intends to buy guns.
Jacob Chansley, who was famously photographed wearing a fur-lined helmet and carrying a spear in multiple locations inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, announced his upcoming shopping spree on Monday evening, shortly after Trump included him in the mass pardon of approximately 1,500 convicted rioters in the flurry of executive orders he issued in the hours after becoming president.
The post reads:
I JUST GOT THE NEWS FROM MY LAWYER …
I GOT A PARDON BABY!
THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!!
I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!
J6ers are getting released & JUSTICE HAS COME …
EVERYTHING done in the dark WILL come to light!
Chansley pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal proceeding in September 2021, a charge that the Supreme Court later deemed inapplicable to the accused rioters on Jan. 6.
His defiant post on Monday represents a significant departure from what he said during his November 2021 sentencing hearing.
“I was wrong for entering the Capitol,” Chansley told Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. “I have no excuse, no excuse whatsoever,” he said, calling his actions “indefensible.” However, he insisted that he was “not an insurrectionist,” and “certainly not a domestic terrorist,” but rather a “good man who broke the law.”
Lamberth chastised Chansley’s actions while praising his speechmaking, comparing the Arizona man’s remarks to those of Martin Luther King — and then sentenced him to 41 months in prison. Chansley was eventually released in May 2023.
Trump had previously predicted that he would “very quickly” issue pardons. Although he had indicated that he would look into each case individually in order to separate the “radical” and “crazy” rioters from those who, in his words, “had no choice” — a sentiment echoed by JD Vance, who said that violent rioters “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned — Trump ultimately took a broad-brush approach, granting a “full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to the vast majority of convicted rioters.
According to the Justice Department, a pardon “is an expression of the President’s forgiveness” and is typically granted “in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct” for a “significant period of time” following conviction or sentence.
“It does not imply innocence,” the DOJ explains. However, a pardon will remove “civil disabilities,” such as restrictions on the right to vote, hold local or state office, or serve on a jury.
Although the newly inaugurated president granted clemency to all Jan. 6 rioters, not all received pardons. Some were granted a sentence commutation.
The Department of Justice “reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, that is then being served, but it does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence, or remove civil disabilities that apply to the convicted person as a result of the criminal conviction.”
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November 2022 and sentenced to 18 years in prison, and co-defendants Kelly Meggs, Dominic Pezzola, and Thomas Caldwell were among the rioters who received commutations on January 6.
According to prosecutors, Rhodes and members of the Oath Keepers, including Meggs, the Florida chapter leader; Caldwell, a retired Navy lieutenant commander; and Harrelson, a Florida member, stockedpiled weapons in a hotel room in Arlington, Virginia, and attempted to obtain a boat to ferry them across the Potomac River to the Capitol on January 6.
To be sure, Chansley isn’t the only Jan. 6 rioter who publicly celebrated after Trump issued the pardons.
Former Army captain and Proud Boys member Gabriel Garcia, who was caught on video taunting then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — whose staff was forced to hide and shelter in place for several harrowing hours during the violent breach — to “come out and play” as he roamed the Capitol building, reportedly cut off his GPS monitor.
However, at least one former Trump supporter who was sentenced to prison for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack has publicly opposed the president’s clemency announcement.
“I pleaded guilty because I was guilty,” Pamela Hemphill told CNN following the pardons’ announcement.
“This is a sad day,” she said. “The ramifications of this is going to be horrifying.”