Thread by @JordanOnRecord

Today at 10 a.m. Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman," will be sentenced. The DOJ wants him to serve the longest sentence yet: 51 months. My live coverage of the hearing will pick up here when it starts. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… #CapitolRiot @wusa9 @EricFlackTV

After his plea hearing in September, I asked Jacob Chansley's lawyer, Albert Watkins, how he was drawn into QAnon. Here was his answer:

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1433876988528312325?s=20

Watkins is asking U.S. District Joyce Royce Lamberth to grant Jacob Chansley a significant downward departure from the sentencing guidelines of 41-51 months. He says Chansley has lived for 15 years with a serious untreated mental illness.

Watkins has also said many of Jacob Chansley's conspiratorial beliefs were reinforced by his mother, who encouraged him to reject a plea deal because she believed former President Trump was going to be reinstated in August and pardon him.

My colleague @EricFlackTV is down at the federal courthouse in DC, where we expect a statement from Chansley's attorney after the hearing. I'll be covering it on here from the cheap seats.

https://mobile.twitter.com/EricFlackTV/status/1460981612527689744

The hearing is getting started. AUSA Kimberly Paschall says the right to peacefully protest is enshrined in the Constitution: "If the defendant had been peaceful on January 6, we wouldn't be here."

Paschall now playing one of 12 videos the DOJ has prepared for the hearing. Can't see it over the public line, but you can hear abundant screaming and "chaos," as she describes it.

Videos playing now of Chansley screaming in the Senate gallery, joining in/leading chants, etc. Paschall says Chansley can be heard yelling "time's up, you motherf******." Calls it "chilling."

Chansley left a note on the Senate gallery dais saying "It's only a matter of time justice is coming!" Paschall says the threat is more serious when the "object of his hatred" (VP Mike Pence, in this case) is only feet away.

Audio can be heard of Chansley yelling about "communists, globalists and traitors."

Judge Lamberth: "He appeared to be the leader speaking to that crowd. Have you counted how many people were there?"

AUSA says approx. 20 at that point inside the Senate chamber.

AUSA: Chansley didn't assault police, destroy property, but "that alone does not a peaceful person make." Yelling "time's up!" in the gallery of the Senate "tells you all you need to know about the peacefulness of that day."

Judge Lamberth asks if the DOJ has any evidence that Chansley knew about the noose erected outside the Capitol at the time? Paschall says no.

Paschall says Chansley's supposed "peacefulness" should be contrasted with what was supposed to happen on January 6, which was the peaceful transition of power.

Paschall: "The message here today should be, 'Don't.' Don't think your actions won't have consequences. Don't think federal law enforcement will sit idly by. Don't think you can disrupt the peaceful transition of power. Don't."

Chansley's attorney, Albert Watkins, is speaking now. He describes himself as "an old white guy from the South. A skinny guy."

Watkins is prone to poetic language. He says in this hearing our democracy is "at a crossroads.... our dinner tables, my dinner table, are compromised by that divisiveness."

Watkins: "January 6th gave rise to the world to see unbridled, unfettered repugnancy. But the cause of that is not the issue here. January 6 is the day we will look back in our rear-view mirror... that will be the day we belly up to the bar and take responsibility for our role."

We all had a role in January 6, Watkins says.

Watkins: "This case presents every bit as uniquely as Jake presented on January 6. This court is in a simultaneously unique position to mete out justice and to emphasize the common ground between all of us and somehow bridge this great divide."

Watkins claims the government has expended "virtually limitless resources" prosecuting January 6 defendants. They should have been able to use those resources to discover Chansley's mental health diagnosis from his time in the U.S. Nacy.

Watkins: "[Jacob Chansley] is accountable and wants to be held accountable."

Watkins: "The government, in 2006, had a young man in their charge. I gave you a photo from that era. It looks like he's 12. That young man, that kid, for the first time in his life, at the age of 19, he had access to medical care."

Watkins: "He had the foresight, the insight, to go to the doc on the ship and say, hey, I want to find out if I'm crazy."

Watkins says the Navy doctor diagnosed Jacob Chansley with a serious mental disorder (schizotypal personality disorder) but not not share that diagnosis with him or put him on a treatment plan. Calls it a "15-year missed opportunity."

Watkins: Navy doctor should have made sure "this pie-faced young man in a sailor's outfit" understood his mental health diagnosis.

Watkins, in brief: Had the Navy doctor told Chansley he had a mental illness, he would not have wound up at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6.

Judge Lamberth: "He made himself the image of the riot. For good or bad. He made himself the very image."

Watkins: "For good or bad, yes your honor."

Watkins says the DOJ has shown Jacob Chansley in a "horrific light." But there's "more to the story. There's the other side of the story. There's the rest of the story."

Watkins: "The government in this case has an opportunity to right a wrong that was perpetrated by the government – perhaps not the Department of Justice." Says the Navy doctor's decision not to tell Chansley his diagnosis is "tragically impacting us today."

Watkins says the diagnosis Chansley got after the court-ordered psych eval answered a question that had "consumed him" his entire life.

Watkins: Chansley has served his entire 317 days in jail so far alone. No family visits because they didn't have the resources to travel. "His only touchstone with the outside world has been me. Which is horrific," Watkins says, eliciting a laugh from the judge."

Watkins: "Jake never wanted to be presented as anything other than a noble lover of his land."

Watkins' allocution has now hit the 35-minute mark without slowing down.

Watkins: "I am confident this court has witnessed tears of significant magnitude. You won't get that from Jake. He's a straight-shooting young man with a problem."

Jacob Chansley is speaking now. He says he would have met a "man of your stature" under different circumstances.

Chansley: "While I was in solitary, I asked myself a lot of question. One of the most important questions I asked was, 'What would Jesus do?' And then I followed up with, 'What would Gandhi do?'"

Chansley: I look up to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas too. Paraphrases a quote from Thomas comparing judges to referees.

Chansley: "I believe in freedom your honor. I believe in freedom. It's why I joined the military. I'm willing to die for it. But I also believe in law and order, because without law and order you can't have freedom."

Chansley: "I had to come to terms with the fact that I was in solitary confinement because of me. Because of my acts. I broke the law! If I broke the law, that means that I should do what Gandhi would do and take responsibility, even if it incriminates me."

Chansley: "In short, if I did not like the ruling on the field, I should not have behaved in a way that caused the Department of Justice to throw a flag."

Chansley says he came to some conclusions while in solitude: "I was wrong for entering the Capitol. I have no excuse. No excuse. My behavior was indefensible."

Chansley says he's a "good man who broke the law."

"I'm not a violent criminal. I'm not an insurrectionist. I'm not a domestic terrorist."

Chansley says he's "nothing like" the other people he's incarcerated with. Says they act like they're in the "Holiday Inn."

Chansley: "In retrospect, I would do everything differently on January 6. Everything. With all honesty, I would try with all of my heart and soul to stop people."

Chansley says he learned a lot from watching the videos of himself "in a frenzy" at the Capitol. "It's incredible what you learn from a third-party perspective."

Chansley says the media has "controversialized" him, which he defines as "persecution through propaganda."

Chansley: "I'm asking your honor to judge a tree by its fruits." Says the shamanism and the tattoos are a form of therapy. Says he uses the pain of getting tattoos to process trauma.

Chansley says he believes what Judge Lamberth (who served as a JAG captain in Vietnam) went through gives him confidence he's more understanding than most people.

Chansley: "I think the hardest part of all of this is I know I'm to blame. Most people will never have to know what it's look to like in the mirror and say, you really, royally messed this up."

Chansley: "It's a source of agony, because you don't know when you're going to be free again. Welcome to the world, Jake!"

Chansley: "Nothing has been as traumatic — mentally, emotionally, physically — as my time in solitary confinement." Says he thought he was headed for 20 years in solitary because he didn't know how prison works.

Chansley: "I have white hairs now. I see your honor has a lot of them, so no offense, but I'm 34 years old. I shouldn't have them!"

Chansley: "I never understood why my step-dad beat me. I never understood that level of psychological pain. But now I can honestly say, without condemning or condoning, that I understand."

Chansley: "They say every sinner has a past, and every sinner has a future. Well that's certainly true. I want to grow past what I was."

Chansley: "My shamanic attire was designed to ward off evil spirits, not to scare people."

Chansley: "More than anything, I just want the trauma to stop. I want to heal. I want to grow. I want to evolve. I want to be more than I was."

Chansley: "Your honor, you were in the military. You were an attorney for some time. You've been a federal judge for as long as I've been alive. So I honestly believe I couldn't have asked God for a better man to judge my character."

Chansley: "I hope that you see my remorse is genuine. I hope you see that my acceptance of responsibility is real."

Chansley: "Believe me, your honor, with Holy God as my witness, I will *never* reoffend."

After his own 30 minutes of allocution, Chansley is finished. Judge Lamberth is up now. Says he has a few things to say before delivering his sentence.

Judge Lamberth: "I guess the basic problem I have, in considering a departure downward, is that, although you have evolved in your thinking in many ways, what you did here was horrific. Obstructing the government... is so serious that I cannot justify a downward departure."

Judge Lamberth: "What you did was terrible. You made yourself the center of the riot." Starts talking about his sentence for Scott Fairlamb, who assaulted police. Says he takes no pleasure in these sentences.

Judge Lamberth: "You made some very good remarks today, and I appreciate that. I think you've come a long way."

🚨 SENTENCE: U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth sentences Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman," to 41 months in prison on one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding. #CapitolRiot @wusa9

Chansley must participate in drug testing and mental health treatment. He'll also have to pay $2,000 in restitution. Judge Lamberth does not impose an additional fine, finding he is not able to pay one.

Chansley will get credit for 317 days already served behind bars, meaning he's got roughly 2.5 years remaining on his sentence of 41 months.

Watkins requests Chansley be placed in a federal facility as close as possible to his family in Arizona.

Judge Lamberth: "Mr. Chansley, you were right, you were facing 20 years. Had you gone to trial... you were smart. You did the right thing. You owned up to it."

My colleague @EricFlackTV was outside the courthouse just now when Jacob Chansley's attorney, Albert Watkins, spoke to media. Listen here:

https://twitter.com/EricFlackTV/status/1461020862799355915

MORE: Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man known as the "QAnon Shaman" made it all the way to VP Pence's seat in the Senate chamber on January 6, sentence to 41 months in prison for role in #CapitolRiot. wusa9.com/article/news/n… @wusa9 @EricFlackTV