Authorities announced new arrests and charges Saturday over the violent incursion into the US Capitol, including a tattoo-chested man in a horned headdress whose image was beamed around the world.
That man, Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, and two others – one of them a newly elected state official from West Virginia – were charged in federal court in connection with the violence, according to the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.
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Chansley was charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.”
The statement alleged that Chansley was “the man seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants,” while carrying a long spear with an American flag tied to it.
Chansley’s seeming resemblance to singer Jay Kay sparked a worldwide buzz on social media, prompting the Jamiroquai frontman to issue a statement making clear that he was nowhere near Washington when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
Chansley describes himself as a “digital soldier” of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
A police statement said Chansley called the FBI on Thursday to confirm his presence on Capitol Hill, telling law enforcement agents he came as part of a group from Arizona “at the request of the President that all ‘patriots’ come to DC on January 6, 2021.”
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Last Update: Sunday, 10 January 2021 KSA 02:23 – GMT 23:23
