Trump supporter Jake Angeli has been arrested in Arizona (Picture: AP)
A self-styled QAnon shaman who became one of the most recognisable participants of the Capitol riots has been charged for his role in the unrest.
Jacob Anthony Chansley, who calls himself Jake Angeli, has been charged with knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Chansley 32, who was pictured wearing a horned hat and no shirt was taken into custody in Arizona, where he lives.
He’s become the latest person to be accused of participating in the riots which left five dead, including a Capitol police officer.
Chansley’s picture went viral around the world due to his unusual outfit. As well as the horns, he wore a fur hat and carried a spear with the American flag wrapped around it.
He was pictured sitting in the Speaker’s chair in the Senate chamber and hollering in the public gallery.
Chansley used to promote himself as a singer and actor but has become a figure at right-wing rallies while dressed in his eccentric outfit.
The US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia announced the new arrests and charges on Saturday.
Two others – one of them a newly elected state official – were charged alongside Chansley in federal court in connection with the violence.
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 prompted 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.
The two other men who have been arrested were Derrick Evans, 35, a recently elected member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, and Adam Johnson, 36, of Florida.
Several of the intruders made their identification simple. Evans is seen on one video, according to the US attorney’s office, shouting as he crossed the threshold into the Capitol, ‘We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!’
Johnson was identified from widely circulated photos showing him smiling and waving for a camera as he carries the lectern of the House speaker Nancy Pelosi as a prize through the Capitol Rotunda.
The Justice Department said Friday that 15 others had been charged over the incursion, including one man accused of possessing bombs.
More to follow
