'QAnon Shaman' Rubbishes Claims Tucker Carlson Got Him Released

Jacob Chansley, better known as the "QAnon Shaman," has denied that footage broadcast by Tucker Carlson resulted in his early release from prison, after he was sentenced to 41 months for his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot.

Speaking to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Chansley said he had a year knocked off his sentence for good conduct and after participating in prison programs under the First Step Act. The former prisoner added he was aware of his release date in mid-February, weeks before Carlson aired footage from January 6 on his Fox News show.

On January 6, a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed Congress in a bid to stop Joe Biden's election victory from being ratified. Hundreds of participants have since been prosecuted, including Chansley, who pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of footage taken on January 6, 2021 after the Republicans gained control of the House in the November 2022 midterms. He broadcast clips from this on his Fox News show, which he suggested showed most of those who broke into Congress were "not insurrectionists, they were sightseers."

Photographs of Chansley, who stormed Congress shirtless, wearing horns and with a painted face, went viral after the riot. He became known as the "QAnon Shaman" due to his support for the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims Trump has been secretly battling a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who had become powerful within liberal institutions.

Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in jail and fined $2,000 in November 2021 after pleading guilty and expressing remorse for his actions. Prosecutors alleged he was involved in a 30-minute standoff with police outside the Senate chamber, which he later entered and left a note for then Vice President Mike Pence warning: "Justice is coming!" On March 28, Chansley was transferred to a halfway house in Phoenix, prior to his full release in May.

A number of social media commentators suggested there was a link between Chansley's early release and the video broadcast by Carlson, which included footage of him walking through Congress at one point accompanied by police. However appearing on Alex Jones' Infowars show, Chansley denied there was any link.

He commented: "There's a lot of people that think that Tucker Carlson's footage got me released, but in fact I had a year shaved off my sentence. Six months for good time, six months for doing programs in prison, that's because of the First Step Act or FSA credits...then I was released to the halfway house two months before my sentence was up.

"I had my release date in mid-February before that footage ever aired, then the footage aired like three weeks before my release day."

Under the 2018 First Step Act, signed into law by then President Trump, prisoners can in some circumstances have their sentences reduced if they participate in programs designed to reduce reoffending.

A 44-second clip of Chansley's comments was posted on Twitter by Ron Filipkowski, an attorney who monitors the American right online, where it received more than 66,000 views.

Scores of police officers were injured during the January 6 attack on Congress while one Trump supporter, 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, was shot dead by an officer.

Speaking to Newsweek, Chansley hit out at Trump's indictment over claims he broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 election result, which he denies. The ex-convict said Trump had "no role what-so-ever" in the Capitol Hill riot, and claimed his prosecution is "further evidence that federal agencies have been corrupt and weaponized for decades by the D.C. Uniparty."