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The Real Reason the Jan. 6 'QAnon Shaman' Was Released From Prison Early
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Nik Popli
Thu, March 30, 2023 at 4:17 PM CDT·5 min read
In this article:
Jacob Chansley, also known as the "QAnon Shaman," screams "Freedom" inside the U.S. Senate chamber after the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob during a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Credit - Win McNamee–Getty Images
Jacob Chansley, the convicted Jan. 6 rioter who was dubbed the “QAnon Shaman” thanks to viral photographs of his outlandish getup, has been released from prison and transferred to a halfway house more than a year before he was initially set to be released.
His former attorney and legal experts say it has nothing to do with Tucker Carlson, or the Fox News host’s broadcast of footage of Chansley seemingly being led through the hallways of the U.S. Capitol by police.
Federal prison records indicate that Chansley, a self-described shaman and a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory, entered a “residential reentry management” facility in Phoenix, Ariz. on Tuesday with a release date of May 25—around 14 months ahead of his scheduled release.
The Bureau of Prisons has not commented on the reason for his early release, but noted that recent changes to the First Step Act allows inmates to earn “up to 54 days of good conduct time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court.” Federal and state prison inmates often earn sentence reductions over the course of their time behind bars.
Chansley, 35, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. He was perhaps the most visible rioter to storm the Capitol, carrying a spear and wearing a horned fur hat and face paint on Jan. 6. He was also one of a small number of rioters to make it to the floor of the Senate Chamber, where he used a bullhorn to rile up the mob, calling former Vice President Mike Pence a “f—ing traitor.” Chansley also left a note on paper that read “It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!” The imposing images of him on the Senate floor were broadcast around the world, becoming a symbol of the Jan. 6 attack.
Chansley’s case recently regained national attention this month when Carlson aired previously unseen video surveillance footage of Chansley walking through the Capitol hallways accompanied by police officers, who at some moments appeared to be escorting him—even opening a Senate-wing door. But the four-minute clip provided no context about his interactions with law enforcement and omitted the most incriminating aspects of his conduct.
Albert Watkins, the attorney who handled Chansley’s plea and sentencing, tells TIME that the new footage did not play any role in his former client’s release. “Absolutely no,” he says. “I have seen no indication of any filings related to the new footage. There are no docket entries indicating the same.”
He notes that the plea agreement and sentencing imposed by the court permitted reduced time if Chansley undertook certain programs and behaved well while confined. The early release, he says, is most likely “based on a host of factors routinely taken into consideration by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.”
Erica Zunkel, a law professor and associate director of the University of Chicago’s Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, tells TIME that the early release seems to be the product of routine federal prison policy rather than a decision based on the potential new evidence. “It would be completely inappropriate if the Tucker Carlson video played a role in his early release,” she says. “They don’t have the authority to consider things that happen after someone is sentenced except in very limited circumstances.”
“This is what the Bureau of Prisons does when people are being released. They calculate good time credit,” she adds.
At Chansley’s sentencing hearing in 2021, he described his own actions as “indefensible” and said he had “no excuse.” “I am in no way shape or form a dangerous criminal. I am not a violent man. I am not an insurrectionist. I am certainly not a domestic terrorist,” Chansley told the judge. “I am nothing like these criminals that I have been incarcerated with.”
So far, more than 1,000 people have been arrested for storming the Capitol, with charges ranging from obstruction of an official proceeding to assault. But 27 months after the attempted insurrection, a significant number of rioters are still awaiting their sentencing. Around 42% of those arrested—420 individuals—have received criminal sentences, while the rest are waiting for their trials or haven’t yet reached plea agreements.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 220 defendants were sentenced to periods of incarceration, with longer prison terms for those who engaged in violence or threats. So far, the median prison sentence for the Jan. 6 rioters is 60 days, according to TIME’s calculation of the public records.
An additional 100 rioters have been sentenced to periods of home detention, while most sentences have included fines, community service and probation for low-level offenses like illegally parading or demonstrating in the Capitol, which is a misdemeanor.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment for this story. Chansley’s current lawyers—John Pierce and William Shipley—did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.
Watkins says his former client served 11 months in solitary confinement before being sentenced. He called Chansley a “gentle and intelligence young man,” and says he believes Chansley will lead a law-abiding life after release. He adds: “I applaud the decision of the U.S. Bureau of Prison in this regard.”
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KYIV — Ukrainian law enforcement officials on Tuesday jailed Oleksandr Dubinsky, a member of parliament who four years ago helped Rudy Giuliani in his failed attempts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden on behalf of then-President Donald Trump.
Dubinsky is accused of treason for allegedly working to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. His arrest restores a spotlight on the efforts by Trump and his associates to gain political advantage by discrediting Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Trump, despite facing numerous legal prosecutions, is the overwhelming Republican favorite to challenge Biden in next year’s election.
Authorities from the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, and the State Bureau of Investigation informed Dubinsky on Monday that a criminal case had been opened against him on charges of state treason, the agencies said in statements posted on the Telegram messaging platform.
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A binder full of Russian intelligence went missing during Trump's final days in office, CNN reports. And his allies are looking for it, too.
Paul Squire
Fri, December 15, 2023 at 11:30 AM CST·2 min read
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More classified intel — this time about Russia — went missing during Trump's final days, CNN reports.
The binder of intelligence about election interference disappeared, according to a CNN investigation.
Trump's allies are still looking for the binder and hope to make it public, the outlet reported.
Even more classified intelligence went missing as Donald Trump was leaving the White House in 2021, a CNN investigation found.
A binder full of intelligence about Russia's interference in the 2016 election vanished during Trump's final days in office, CNN reported on Friday, citing more than a dozen anonymous sources. A representative for Trump didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about the CNN report.
That binder apparently had a lot of information. A court filing from Trump-friendly journalist John Solomon said the binder was "about 2,700 pages and was approximately ten inches thick."
The material inside the binder was so classified, it was kept at CIA headquarters in Virginia and analysis of the intel was kept in a locked safe, CNN reported.
That is, until Trump was leaving office.
On January 19, 2021 — two days before his presidency ended — Trump declassified portions of the binder as part of a flurry of last-minute declassifications and pardons for his allies.
The binder has since gone missing.
This binder isn't referenced in special counsel Jack Smith's sprawling indictment against Trump that accuses him of taking classified intel to Mar-A-Lago and trying to keep the government from getting it back.
Trump's own allies are searching for the binder since they want to make it public, thinking it'll exonerate Trump and help defend his criminal cases, CNN reported.
In his court filing, Solomon writes that he went to the White House in those final hours of Trump's presidency to review the intelligence and plan how to release it with then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
The White House even gave Solomon the records "in a paper bag" to scan and prepare to release them on his website, according to the court document.
But that night, Solomon said in the filing, the administration asked for the documents back, so he returned them to the White House.
They've been missing since then, CNN reported.
Months later, Trump named Solomon as one of his representatives to the National Archives. Solomon has since been waging a battle in the courts to get the documents, arguing that the Department of Justice has them.
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