The infamous Capitol rioter known as “the QAnon Shaman” says he plans to run for governor of Arizona after rejecting his former hero, Donald Trump.
Jacob Chansley, 38, became infamous for his shirtless appearance with war paint and bull horns during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. But he said his week he confirmed this week that he had broken with Trump over his reluctance to release the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files.
Chansley told The Times of London on he is planning to run for governor of his home state of Arizona in November as an independent candidate, up against Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs.
He told the publication his motivation was to fight a system he feels is “at war” with regular people and benefits billionaires.
“All warfare is based on deception, and the American people have had war declared on them,” Chansley said.
He added, “Since I’m one of the only people that seem to have their wits about them and understand what’s actually going on in the world, it is up to me, as far as I’m concerned, to do something about these problems.”
Conspiracy theorist Chansley received one of the longest prison sentences out of any of the Jan. 6 rioters, and served around 18 months in prison before his release in May 2023. He was pardoned along with almost 1,600 other Jan. 6 rioters to whom Trump gave a blanket clemency on his first day back in office last year.
Chansley told the Times that the Trump administration was a “corrupt disaster” and said the U.S. invasion of Venezuela was the president “essentially using the American military to commit the armed robbery of a nation.”
Calling the military action “the anthesis of everything America needs right now,” Chansley said the only thing Trump has done since resuming office that he has found “remotely acceptable” was pardoning Capitol rioters, because he followed through on a promise.
“What I’ve come to understand more than anything, dude, is that the Trump administration just lies, bro, because they’re Israel First, just like the Biden administration just lied because they were Israel First,” he said. “We don’t have our own government.”
The Times did question how serious Chansley’s Arizona bid was, considering he previously missed running for a vacant Senate seat in the state in 2024 by failing to register in time.
Chansley messaged Times journalist David Charter after their interview insisting he “was not interested in politics” but was interested in “saving my country, humanity & the planet from extinction.”
“That is the direction we are heading if we don’t get new leadership,” he added.
Earlier this week, Chansley confirmed his exit from the Trump cult.
“The man alone, refusing to release the Epstein client list, was enough for me and I think a lot of other people to be like, ‘OK, this is bulls–t,” he added.
“Look at it like this: I supported Trump because he was talking about ending child and human trafficking,” he continued. “I supported Trump because he was talking about arresting Epstein and the Epstein client list.”
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