Ariz. man sent back to DC ahead of trial in riot
The man who traveled from Phoenix for the protest at the U.S. Capitol, then raided the building while wearing a fur hat with horns, has been transported by the U.S. Marshals Service back to Washington, D.C., to face criminal charges, the agency said Monday.
A federal judge ordered Jake Angeli, 33, held in custody while awaiting trial on six charges related to his incursion on Jan. 6.
Angeli briefly took the dais at the U.S. Senate chamber and posed for a photo while flexing a muscle and holding a spear, to which he had affixed a U.S. flag.
He then wrote a threatening note, which he showed to a journalist who captured the scene on video.
Angeli was initially charged in Phoenix, but a more extensive grand jury indictment was filed in D.C. As charged, Angeli would face 28 years in prison.
A spokesperson for the Marshals Service said the office would not release the specific location where Angeli was being held, citing security concerns.
The raid on the Capitol left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. It also delayed for hours, but did not stop, the task Congress had that day: certifying the states’ electoral votes for President Joe Biden.
Angeli, who was charged under his legal name, Jacob Chansley, had become a fixture at rallies and protests in Phoenix during 2020. He helped lead nightly protests in November outside the county building where election workers tallied votes.
Before then, Angeli would often appear outside the Arizona State Capitol, starting one-man demonstrations. He delivered monologues in a booming voice that bounced off the buildings.
A self-proclaimed shaman, Angeli appeared shirtless, showing off elaborate tattoos on his chest. He wore face paint and the hat with horns that would make him a national topic of conversation.
Angeli told FBI agents he traveled to Washington D.C. because he felt called there by former President Donald Trump, according to court papers.
Angeli, according to law enforcement, was among the first people to breach security and enter the U.S. Capitol. Photos and videos taken by journalists showed him, in his instantly recognizable outfit, wandering the Rotunda before entering the U.S. Senate chamber, which had just been cleared of lawmakers.
Angeli left a note on the dais for Vice President Mike Pence, who had been presiding over the joint session of Congress. The note, according to a court filing, told Pence: “it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”
In an interview with NBC News the day after the raid, Angeli said he did nothing wrong. “I walked through an open door, dude,” he said.
But prosecutors, in arguing he be held in custody, said he posed a danger to society, partly because he was divorced from reality. They argued, in a memo filed with the court, that Angeli had become one of the “leaders and mascots” of the QAnon conspiracy theory that imagined Trump was investigating the crimes of a secret global cabal.
Angeli, they said, was a flight risk because he shown an ability to somehow, without a job or assets, get himself across the country to D.C. Prosecutors pointed out that fundraisers had been started online to raise money for Angeli.
Magistrate Judge Deborah Fine also noted during a hearing in Phoenix that Angeli, despite being widely photographed, was unrecognizable as she appeared before him on a video monitor in court, dressed in the bright orange clothes of a man in custody and without his painted face or headdress.
“He has made himself notorious,” Fine said from the bench, “but he also has the ability to be anonymous.”