The “QAnon Shaman,” as Jacob Chansley has come to be known since the January 6 Capitol riot, has said he no longer wants to be associated with the QAnon movement.
Mr Chansley pleaded guilty on Friday to felony obstruction of Congress in the Capitol riot, and faces at least three years in prison.
Attending the insurrection bare-chested, while sporting face paint and a large horned fur hat, Mr Chansley cut a notable figure on the day. Images of him inside the Capitol circulated widely in the press and on social media during the aftermath of the riot.
The self-described QAnon conspiracy follower, who has also gone by the name of Jake Angeli, was photographed holding a 6ft spear with the American flag tied to it in the Senate chamber, while chanting, shouting, and calling the former Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor.”
He admitted leaving a note saying: “It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!” on the vice president’s presiding desk.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, Mr Chansley’s lawyer, Albert Watkins, released a statement to the Huffington Post in which he said Mr Chansley “repudiates the ‘Q’ moniker” and no longer wanted to be associated with “Q.”
Mr Chansley, Mr Watkins wrote, was a “long avowed and practicing Shaman,” but he had “repudiated the ‘Q’ previously assigned to him and requests future references to him be devoid of use of the letter ‘Q.’”
According to FBI reports, Mr Chansley was one of more than 20 self-identified QAnon adherents to be arrested at the riot.
QAnon conspiracy theorists broadly believe that that Satanic, cannibalistic paedophiles conspired against former President Donald Trump – a hero to the movement – during his time in office, but many variations on this story circulate.
