QAnon Shaman’s Lawyer Calls Out Trump ‘Propaganda’ in Inciting Capitol Riot: Millions of Americans ‘Did Hang on Every Word of Their President’
CNN host Chris Cuomo hosted the lawyer for the so-called QAnon Shaman on the eve of Donald Trump’s Senate trial and the attorney ripped the former president for his “propaganda” efforts in inciting his client to riot at the Capitol.
Cuomo kicked off the segment by reading a statement from the “Shaman” — real name, Jacob Chansley — in which the horns-and-pelt-bedecked, self-proclaimed leader of QAnon expressed his “disappointment” with Trump. Chansley, who now faces charges of trespassing and violent entry, has since had a change of heart and now says he wants to testify at the Senate impeachment trial because “he was betrayed” by Trump.
After that statement, attorney Albert Watkins stepped in to aggressively attack Trump.
“One of the things that you missed out and others have missed out on is the propaganda,” Watkins said of Trump. “Trump’s tweets, his social media exploitation, what he said day in, day out, that we all permitted, included untruths, misrepresentations, out and out lies. Not every now and then, every day. Not once a day, multiple times daily.”
“For people like Jake,” Watkins added, “for millions of Americans, they truly did hang on every word of their president, our president, the person that we permitted day in, day out, to speak to us in ways and in fashions that simply weren’t true.”
Cuomo then pressed the attorney on Chansley’s current beliefs about the election and if he now recognizes Trump’s “big lie” about widespread fraud.
“So this is a process,” Watkins explained. “The answer is yes. The process, though, is not something that Jake is going through alone. The process of unwinding from years of Trump, years of lies…”
“You make it sound like he’s being deprogrammed from a cult…” Cuomo said, cutting in.
“Well, I’ve likened the entire thing to 1978 and Jim Jones down in Guyana,” Watkins replied. “This is very real for these people. These are our brothers and sisters and our families. They’re millions of Americans. The unwinding process is not going to be completed at the end of this week, whenever this impeachment trial is concluded.”
“It’s a process that’s going to require patience and compassion,” Watkins continued. “People who are introspective like my client and smart like my client and alone and able to exploit that time alone, he’s moved through it more quickly than most of my white-collar crime defendant clients.”
Cuomo, showing some skepticism toward Watkins’ generous claims about his client, shot back: “That says something, especially for a guy wearing horns on his head.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
