Lawyer: 'QAnon Shaman' Now Knows Trump 'Really Didn't Love Him'

Judge also rules Jacob Chansley, accused of storming Capitol, should get organic meals in jail
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2021 7:42 AM CST
Judge: Give Jailed 'QAnon Shaman' His Organic Grub
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, supporters of President Trump, including Jacob Chansley—center, with fur and horned hat—are confronted by Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol in Washington.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Whether you know him as Jacob Chansley (real name), Jake Angeli, or the "QAnon Shaman," the 33-year-old Phoenix man who's facing federal charges for storming the US Capitol on Jan. 6 has been having a rough time of it in detention. So says his lawyer, Albert Watkins, who appeared before a federal judge on Wednesday to plead for his client to be fed organic food, per his shamanic beliefs, in the DC correctional facility where he's being held. Per Politico, Watkins relayed that Chansley was in "declining" condition and had lost 20-plus pounds since being detained. He noted that if Chansley ate nonorganic food, he would see "systemic responses that are not simply discomforting, but debilitating and, notably, dehydrating." "I guess my client is going to have to eat his left leg," Watkins told the Daily Beast before Wednesday's hearing, though there's now no need for such drastic measures: US District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Chansley should get his request.

In a filing last week, Chansley says the last time he ate was Jan. 25. "I have strayed from my spiritual diet only a few times over the last eight years with detrimental physical effects," he noted. Insider reports that Chansley had been given an organic diet in an Arizona jail before being transferred to DC. Eric Glover, the Department of Corrections' general counsel, denied in a Tuesday email that Chansley hadn't eaten in a week and noted his request for organic food lacked "religious merit." Watkins also tells the Daily Beast that, after a "period of introspection," Chansley has come to grips that former President Trump "really didn't love him" and that "the president didn't have his back"—a fact realized after he didn't get a pardon from Trump. Watkins adds that even though Chansley still holds a "soft space in his heart" for Trump, he's ready to testify against him in the impeachment hearings that start next week to help prove that his own part in the Capitol riot were driven by Trump's comments. (More Capitol riot stories.)

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