Officials call for tougher domestic terror laws after Capitol riot
FOX News Pentagon correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joins 'Special Report' with the latest
A man who calls himself the "QAnon Shaman" and stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while wearing a horned bearskin headdress, face paint and no shirt, is willing to testify in former President Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, his lawyer said this week.
Jacob Anthony Chansley later regretted being "duped" by the former president after he didn’t receive a pardon after the attack on the Capitol, lawyer Albert Watkins told KSDK-TV in St. Louis last week.
Watkins added Chansley also lamented "being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position to make decisions he should not have made."
The lawyer told the Associated Press he has yet to speak to any lawmakers about the offer and senators have not voted whether to allow witnesses during the trial, which failed in a vote during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 file photo, supporters of President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley, center with fur and horned hat, are confronted by Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol in Washington. A video showed Chansley leading others in a prayer inside the Senate chamber. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
LAWYER FOR 'QANON SHAMAN' SAYS CAPITOL RIOTER REGRETS BEING 'DUPED' BY TRUMP
At that time, however, Republicans had the majority, which has now flipped to the Democrats.
Watkins said it’s important for senators to hear the voice of someone who was allegedly incited by Trump. He described Chansley as having been "horrendously smitten" by Trump but said when he didn’t receive a pardon following the riot he felt "betrayed."
Trump was impeached by the House for "incitement of insurrection" after the riots and the Senate trial is scheduled to start the week of Feb. 8.
It will be the first impeachment trial of a former U.S. president.
While Democrats are weighing whether to use witnesses in the trial, Democratic House impeachment managers will likely at least use some of the plethora of social media videos that in many cases was filmed by the rioters themselves.
GRAHAM WARNS DEMS WILL 'BLOW UP' SENATE BY MOVING FORWARD WITH IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, CALLING WITNESSES
Chansley is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Washington, D.C. where he faces charges of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in a Capitol building among other counts.
Watkins argued last week that his client was practically "invited" into the Capitol by Trump and egged on to take extreme action to reverse the election results.
"Let's roll the tape," he told KSDK. "Let's roll the months of lies, and misrepresentations and horrific innuendo and hyperbolic speech by our president designed to inflame, enrage, motivate."
Prosecutors have said Chansley went into the Capitol carrying a U.S. flag attached to a wooden pole topped with a spear, ignored an officer’s commands to leave, went into the Senate chamber and wrote a threatening note to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Chansley, who has long been a fixture at Trump rallies, told investigators he came to the Capitol "at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6," according to court records.
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He was being held in his home state of Arizona until his arraignment in Washington, D.C.
Fox News' Vandana Rambaran and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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