HAPPENING NOW: Qanon Shaman Jacob Chansley — one of the most notorious Jan. 6 defendants — is in court to be sentenced.
Proescutors are seeking 51 months, their stiffest sentence yet.
Proescutors are seeking 51 months, their stiffest sentence yet.
Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall, in response to claims Chansley was "peaceful":
"If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, your honor, we would not be here."
"If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, your honor, we would not be here."
PASCHALL reads the note Chansley left for Mike Pence: "It's only a matter of time. Justice is coming."
Pence, she notes, was in the same char just an hour earlier.
"He’s feet away from the object of his contempt."
Pence, she notes, was in the same char just an hour earlier.
"He’s feet away from the object of his contempt."
PASCHALL says about 55-60 rioters entered the Senate chamber on Jan. 6.
Judge Lamberth notes, in an aside that Chansley "appeared to be the leader."
Judge Lamberth notes, in an aside that Chansley "appeared to be the leader."
PASCHALL says call for lengthy sentence is meant to send message to "this defendant and any other, regardless of their creed, beliefs, political persuasion or otherwise — to anyone who may wish to do harm to this city, this country, this democracy, the message today is: Don’t”
CHANSLEY's attorney Al Watkins says his client "became a new man" after he received a psychiatric evaluation in July and received answers to questions that had long plagued him. He has a personality disorder, Watkins says, and notes Chansley has been jailed for 317 days already.
CHANSLEY now speaking to Judge Lamberth and pleading for leniency. He thanks Lamberth for helping order an organic diet for him and transferring him to Alexandria jail to make that happen.
Chansley spending a lot of his remarks describing his own reflections on his behavior.
"I should do what Gandhi would do and take responsibility, even when it incriminates me."
"Men of honor admit when they're wrong. Not just publicly but to themselves."
"I should do what Gandhi would do and take responsibility, even when it incriminates me."
"Men of honor admit when they're wrong. Not just publicly but to themselves."
CHANSLEY: "I may be guilty of this crime. But I am in no way a dangerous criminal."
He says he's not an insurrectionist or a domestic terrorist.
"I am nothing like these criminal who I've been incarcerated with ...They're acting like they'rein the Holiday Inn."
He says he's not an insurrectionist or a domestic terrorist.
"I am nothing like these criminal who I've been incarcerated with ...They're acting like they'rein the Holiday Inn."
Chansley is far and away the best orator to speak on his own behalf during sentencing.
Unclear if it will have any bearing on Judge Lamberth's ultimate sentence. But he's not mincing words about his actions and his culpability for stoking the horrors that unfolded on Jan. 6.
Unclear if it will have any bearing on Judge Lamberth's ultimate sentence. But he's not mincing words about his actions and his culpability for stoking the horrors that unfolded on Jan. 6.
Chansley quotes Shawshank Redemption: "Hope is a dangeorus thing."
He's now discussing a "vision quest" he went on in Arizona and "dang near died in the heat." Says solitary confinement was worse.
He's now discussing a "vision quest" he went on in Arizona and "dang near died in the heat." Says solitary confinement was worse.
LAMBERTH says Chansley's comments are "the most remarkable I've heard in 34 years." And he says he believes Chansley's remorse is genuine.
But he says what Chansley did was "horriifc."
But he says what Chansley did was "horriifc."
BREAKING: Jacob Chansley, whose shirtless image on the Senate rostrum and ominous not to. Mike Pence came to define the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.
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