CNN Host Stunned When Jan. 6 Criminal Recants All His Remorse Live On Air

CNN host Michael Smerconish was stunned when convicted Jan. 6 criminal Jacob Chansley — also known as the QAnon Shaman — basically repudiated all of the remorse he expressed in court during a live interview.

Chansley filed papers this week to launch a congressional run, which was supposed to be the subject of an interview on Saturday morning’s edition of CNN’s Smerconish.

But things quickly stalled when Smerconish tried to get Chansley to confirm the remorseful statements he made while being sentenced in court, and Chansley led off by referring to his “quote-unquote ‘crime””:

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: You took full responsibility, you said. Men of honor admit when they’re wrong, not just publicly, but to themselves. I would like to use this as an opportunity to admit to Your Honor, to the prosecution, to the nation. I was wrong for entering the capital. I have no excuse. No excuse whatsoever. The behavior is indefensible. That was before you did the time. How do you feel today?

JACOB CHANSLEY: There is no defense for breaking the law unless it’s an unjust law. And there are unjust laws, just as there are unjust men.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Okay. But what you said at the sentencing hearing still holds. You’ve got no excuse. You recognize you broke the law and you regret it.

JACOB CHANSLEY: Well, I recognize I broke the law. I did my time. Whether or not the sentence was, you know, fitting of the quote unquote crime is a matter of opinion.

Smerconish pressed Chansley over the course of the interview, to little avail:

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Okay. I guess I’m waiting to hear if you’ll also say, given that you hope to be employed in those buildings. “I would not breach the Capitol. I would never have broken into the building.”

JACOB CHANSLEY: Well, considering that I would try to stop everything from happening, I think that’s a given.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Okay. I don’t want to play a word game, why not just say I wouldn’t I wouldn’t trespass. I wouldn’t trespass that. You. Pardon me?

JACOB CHANSLEY: Because I did not break into the building. I walked through open doors. And if you look at it, the truth of what happened when I went in is antithetical to the Mockingbird media narrative. I stopped somebody from stealing. I volunteered to help the police. That’s why they were escorting me around the building. And, you know, I said a prayer as soon as I exited the building. I, you know, shortly thereafter, I stopped people from breaking in and told everybody to go home. I was doing everything I could to be a peacekeeper inside that building.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Okay, but let’s agree on this. Maybe you should never have been in the building to begin with.

JACOB CHANSLEY: Okay. Well, there’s a lot of people in Congress that probably shouldn’t be in there.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: This is not sounding so repentant!

After several minutes of this, a stunned Smerconish told Chansley this was not what he expected:

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Jacob, I was looking forward to talking about your. I was looking forward to talking about your platform. I thought we were going to very quickly, given what you said at your sentencing hearing. Hear from you, “man, I really regret it. I should never have been in that building to begin with. I’m a different person. I’m remorseful,” but I’m not hearing that. I just showed footage of the doors being kicked in. And then you walked in with a group of people and it sounds like you’re not even taking. You never should have walked through that door.

JACOB CHANSLEY: I didn’t. I say I broke the law and I shouldn’t have done that. So like I said, there’s no representation for the American people in Congress. That’s why I’m running. That’s why I said that there’s some people in Congress that probably shouldn’t be in there either, because they’re not representing the American people.

Watch above via CNN’s Smerconish.