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QAnon Shaman no longer supports Donald Trump a year after he pardoned him | News US

Published

1 day ago

7 January 2026

QAnon Shaman no longer supports Donald Trump a year after he pardoned him | News US

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With an American flag painted on his face, a raccoon skin hat with horns, and armed with a sign reading ‘Q sent me’, the January 6 ‘QAnon Shaman’ is hard to forget.

Now, Jacob Chansley, who was jailed for his part in the January 6 riots on the US Capitol, has revealed he no longer supports Donald Trump.

The shaman revealed he’s not a fan anymore because of the President’s handling of the Epstein files.

Despite being sentenced to 41 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to obstructing an official proceeding, he was one of the hundreds of participants on January 6 pardoned by Trump after he re-entered office.

CNN went to Phoenix, Arizona, where Chansley now lives, and asked him: ‘Are you still a Trump supporter?’

Chansley, wearing American flag sunglasses, visibly grimaced before replying: ‘No. The man refusing to release the Epstein client list was enough for me and a lot of other people to be like, “Okay, this is bullshit.”‘

(FILES) File image dated January 6, 2021 shows supporters of US President Donald Trump, including Jake Angeli (C), a QAnon supporter known for his painted face and horned hat, entering the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC after demonstrators breeched security and entered the building while Congress tallied votes for the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. January 6, 2026 marks five years since a mob overran the US Capitol in Washington DC, with rioters pardoned by Donald Trump retracing their steps as Democrats revive hearings to hold the president accountable. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images) — Jacob Chansley (centre) has renounced the President (Picture: AFP)

Sitting down with CNN, Chansley said it was ‘bullshit’ (Picture: CNN)

He went on to explain that he didn’t regret his part in January 6, and didn’t identify as the ‘QAnon Shaman’, adding that he only carried his ‘Q sent me’ sign because it was a ‘meme’.

QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy theory which has claimed that there is a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

They also believe that former US President Donald Trump is trying to fight said cabal.

It is thought these conspiracy theories first started in 2017, after an anonymous user posted a string of messages on the website 4chan, signing them off with the letter ‘Q’.

The individual known as ‘Q’ claimed to have a level of US security approval referred to as ‘Q clearance’.

The group has also gained traction within the ‘alt-right’ and is linked to anti-5G and anti-vaccine beliefs, particularly against the Covid-19 vaccines.

INDIVIDUAL PHOTO CAPTION: Jacob Chansley, also known as the Qanon shaman, cries ???Freedom??? inside the U.S. Senate chamber after members of a mob supporting former U.S. President Donald Trump battled their way into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. — Chansley said he doesn’t approve of how Trump didn’t release the client list (Picture: Getty)

ADVANCE FOR PUBLICATION ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 9, AND THEREAFTER - FILE - Jacob Anthony Chansley, who also goes by the name Jake Angeli, a QAnon believer, speaks to a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters outside of the Maricopa County Recorder's Office where votes in the general election are being counted, in Phoenix, Nov. 5, 2020. Twenty years on, the skepticism and suspicion first revealed by 9/11 conspiracy theories has metastasized, spread by the internet and nurtured by pundits and politicians like Donald Trump. One hoax after another has emerged, each more bizarre than the last: birtherism. Pizzagate. QAnon. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File) — His face became associated with January 6 (Picture: AP)

Though Chansley says he doesn’t identify with the QAnon movement anymore, it’s not the first time Chansley has slammed Trump.

In July, he called the President a ‘stupid piece of sh*t’, and even suggested Israel and Epstein were ‘blackmailing’ Trump.

Other Republicans have shared fury over Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.

For years, Trump had told his supporters that he would release Epstein’s alleged client list, which reportedly contains high-level celebrities and politicians.

In July, far-right influencers called for people to burn their famous MAGA hats. Nick Fuentes wrote: ‘We need to burn our MAGA hats, I think that’s a solution.’

Politico’s playbook observed at the time: ‘Now? It’s a huge credibility problem. Vance, Patel, Bongino and Bondi — among others — effectively have to either acknowledge that they were not just wrong about the government covering up for Epstein, but actually making stuff up, or they come off like they’re part of a cover-up themselves.’

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