The spear-wielding, bare-chested Jan. 6 rioter known as the “Qanon Shaman” has been pardoned by Donald Trump and says he plans to “buy some motha f***in’ guns” in order to celebrate his freedom.
Jacob Chansley from Phoenix, Arizona, was one of the first Trump supporters to descend on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the then-incumbent president’s 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.
Sporting a horned fur hat made from raccoon fur, his red, white and blue face paint and use of a bullhorn to rile up the mob rocketed the far-right conspiracy theorist as a worldwide symbol for the insurrection. A judge later said he “literally spearheaded” the movement into the chamber.
In November 2021, Chansley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official and was ordered to serve 41 months in prison – one of the longest sentences received by a rioter – but was released after 27 months in May 2023.
But on Monday, he was one of the 1,500 individuals charged with crimes connected to the riot whose convictions were quashed, as Trump picked up his pardoning pen upon being sworn in and launching his second administration.
“Our rights are given to us by God not government. Freedom is our natural state of being. My spirit is free, I was born to be wild [and] I am gonna travel around the country now that I finally can!,” Chansley told The Independent when reached for comment.
Chansley was quick to broadcast his joy on X, moments after learning of his pardoning on Monday evening.
“I just got the news from my lawyer,” he tweeted in block capitals. “I got a pardon baby! Thank you President Trump!”
Presidents can issue pardons (removing a punishment after a court decision) and commutations (a reduction in punishment for a crime) as they see fit for federal convictions, but not for state crimes.
Chansely, a former believer and disseminator of the QAnon conspiracy theories and self-described shamanic practitioner, announced his first port of call as a free man: the purchase of guns.
“Now I am gonna by some motha f***in guns! I love this country! God Bless America,” Chansley continued on X. “J6ers are getting released [and] justice has come. Everything done in the dark will come to light.”
Before his sentencing in November 2021, Chansley expressed remorse for his actions, telling U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth that his “behavior is indefensible”.
He called the FBI and outed himself as the flag-carrying Shaman, claiming he was “groomed” by MAGA propaganda, and offered to testify before Congress during Trump’s second impeachment hearing in February 2021.
Upon an attempt of a “rebrand” away from the QAnon movement in November 2023, he filed a statement of interest to the Arizona Secretary of State to run as a Libertarian for the seat.
In an interview prior to Trump’s inauguration on Monday morning with conservative author Joe Polish, Chansley painted a positive picture of the US upon Trump igniting his second term.
“Waving a magic wand, I’d love to see America have a culture that is symbiotic with each other and the environment,” he said. “I honestly think that’s coming now that we have this new administration.”
Hours later, Trump granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” including those who assaulted law enforcement officers.
He also commuted the sentences of 14 members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militias.
Despite not directly making reference to the Jan 6 rioters in his inaugural address, Trump, himself a convicted felon, later hinted of his clemency grants to an overflow crowd of supporters in the Capitol.
“But you’ll be happy because, you know, it’s action, not words, that count,” he said at the event on Monday. “You’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages.”
Trump began touting the release of the Jan six rioters after ascending to the top of the GOP ticket on his presidential campaign trail last year.
In a Truth Social post in March 2024, Trump vowed that one of his first acts in office would be to “free January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned.”
On December 2, after Biden announced his pardoning of his eldest son Hunter, Trump once again mused over pardons for his supporters charged for their roles in the Capitol riot.
Some 1,583 individuals had been charged criminally in federal court as of January 6, 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
