‘QAnon Shaman’ Defends Loyalty to Trump, Claims Police ‘Waved’ Him Into the Capitol in First Jailhouse TV Interview

Jacob Chansley, the man known as the “QAnon Shaman,” defended his actions during the storming of the U.S. Capitol in his first televised interview from prison.

Chansley became infamous as one of the most prominent members of the insurrectionist mob that seized the Capitol in a violent, doomed attempt to ensure the continuity of Donald Trump’s presidency.

CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Laurie Segall spoke to Chansley for his first T.V. interview since his arrest, and she began by asking if he understands that his actions “were an attack on this country.”

“No, they were not,” Chansley responded. “That is incorrect. That is inaccurate entirely.”

Chansley claimed his actions were “a part of shamanism” and “I also stopped people from stealing and vandalizing” the Senate. This prompted Segall to cut in and remind him that “legally you were not allowed to be in what you’re calling the sacred chamber.”

“And that is that is the one very serious regret that I have, was believing that when we were waved in by police officers that it was acceptable,” Chansley responded.

Segall then asked Chansley about why he was so devoted to Trump. Chansley defended the former president by saying he was “unnecessarily and unfairly” attacked by his political foes, “and I had been a victim of that all of my life.”

“I honestly believed and still believe that he cares about the Constitution, that he cares about the American people,” he said. “That’s also why, you know, it wounded me so deeply and why it disappointed me so greatly that I and others did not get a pardon.”

“Do you regret that fierce loyalty?” Segall asked.

“I regret entering that building,” Chansley said.

“But you don’t regret the loyalty to Donald Trump?” Segall asked again, which drew a response of “No.”

Watch above, via CBS.