“St. Louis attorney Albert Watkins is representing a man pictured in viral photos of the Capitol unrest and is making a direct plea for a pardon. Jake Angeli, whose legal name is Jacob Anthony Chansley, was taken into custody Saturday in Arizona. An indictment unsealed Tuesday in Washington charged the 33-year-old with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in a Capitol building. It’s unclear whether the new charges are felonies or misdemeanors. Chansley was previously charged with two misdemeanors stemming from the violent riot – entering a restricted building without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds” reports KMOV.
“Angeli is known as the ‘QAnon Shaman’ and for his painted face and horned hat. Angeli ‘accepted President Trump’s invitation to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol He took seriously the countless messages of President Trump. He believed in President Trump. Like tens of millions of other Americans, Chansley felt – for the first time in his life – as though his voice was being heard.’ Watkins said Angeli played no part in the violence and surrendered peacefully, warranting a pardon. ‘My client had heard the oft-repeated words of President Trump,’ Mr. Watkins continued. ‘The words and invitation of a president are supposed to mean something. Given the peaceful and compliant fashion in which Mr. Chansley comported himself, it would be appropriate and honorable for the president to pardon Mr. Chansley and other like-minded, peaceful individuals who accepted the president’s invitation with honorable intentions.'”