The iconic, American flag-painted face of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection, Jake “QAnon Shaman” Chansley, has been released from a federal prison to a halfway house in his native Arizona ahead of his full release from custody as soon as May 25th, CBS News’s Scott MacFarlane reports citing federal bureau of prison records. Chansley had been sentenced in October 2021 to 41 months in the slammer for carrying a deadly weapon – his spearhead-tipped US flag – into the Capitol on the 6th and was arrested a few days later. It’s not clear why – even credited from time served starting in January 2021 and for good behavior behind bars – Chansley will be out roughly 13 months early.
An even bigger question mark is if Chansley’s probation officer will allow him to show up on the Trump rally circuit for pics and autographs with his adoring fans or some other similar means of capitalizing on his MAGA fame, as there’s almost zero doubt he will if given the chance to do so.