Twitter mogul Elon Musk expressed his sympathy on Friday for the Capitol rioters dubbed “QAnon Shaman,” in the billionaire’s latest attempt to downplay the deadly events of January 6, 2021.
“Free Jacob Chansley,” Musk tweeted to his 130 million followers, apparently suggesting that the rioter’s punishment is unwarranted.
Chansley has earned the nickname by raiding the US Capitol bare-chested on January 6 with a Viking-style fur hat and face paint, carrying an American flag zip-tied to a spear.
For making threats and disrupting Congress as its members tried to certify the results of the 2020 election, Chansley received 41 months in prison, or just shy of three and a half years.
He was one of 1,000 people to be arrested for his participation in the attack on the Capitol and the law enforcement officers who defended it. More than 300 people were charged with assaulting or resisting an officer or employee.
But Musk recently began promoting the false idea – pushed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Fox News host Tucker Carlson and other conservatives – that the Capitol attack was actually a mostly peaceful event.
In a segment last week criticized by U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, among others, Carlson used selectively edited footage to make the crime appear better than it actually was.
Musk promoted the segment repeatedly on his Twitter page with incredulous comments.
On Friday, Musk responded to a video clip showing Chansley using a bullhorn to read a tweet sent by former President Donald Trump around 3:15 pm on January 6.
“Respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue,” Trump wrote, as Chansley read.
This, combined with other footage showing Chansley walking alongside law enforcement through the halls of the Capitol, apparently absolve the man in Musk’s mind.
“Chansley jailed for 4 years for non-violent, police-escorted tour!?” CEOs of Twitter and Tesla were amazed. (The sentence was less than four years.) In another tweet, Musk claimed Chansley was “misrepresented in the media as a violent criminal who tried to overthrow the country and urged others to commit violence.”
“I am not part of MAGA, but I believe in fair justice,” he said.
Chansley pleaded guilty to charges of civil disorder, disorderly conduct and disorderly conduct, trespassing into a building, and other counts at a November 2021 sentencing hearing. Prosecutors said he bypassed police barriers to enter the Capitol and onto the Senate floor, where he shouted “Mike Pence is a brazen traitor” from the dais, and led other protesters in chants against “all tyrants, communists, and globalists.”
He also left a note: “It’s Only a Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!”