The attorney for the man known as the “QAnon Shaman” doubled down on comments he made about the mental health of Capitol rioters.
“For five months, I acted professionally. I talked to the people that needed to know. I made sure that the Department of Justice had the opportunity firsthand to meet with my client,” Albert Watkins told CNN’s John Berman.
Watkins said in a Tuesday interview with Talking Points Memo that Capitol rioters “all fucking short-bus people,” adding that they “are people with brain damage, they’re fucking retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.”
Berman then claimed that Watkins was “using what the Special Olympics says is hate speech.”
“I’m doing that which is necessary to put absolutely in the spotlight the fact that our nation is running a gulag, in effect taking people with vulnerabilities, with special needs, with sensitivities that put them in a category of being outside of what medical science may say is the bell curve of normalcy,” Watkins responded. “And we’re putting them in solitary confinement. You ask any doctor the way to treat people who are vulnerable is not to put them in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.” (RELATED: ‘QAnon Shaman’ Says He’s ‘Disappointed’ Trump Did Not Pardon Him)
Watkins’ client, Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” became one of the most-recognized Capitol riot defendants after he wore horns, face paint, and furs in the mob. Chansley allegedly left a threatening note on the desk in then-Vice President Mike Pence’s Senate office. He previously attended MAGA and QAnon protests in Arizona, where he wore the same attire.
Chansley is being charged with six felonies in connection with the riot, including civil disorder and disruption of an official proceeding.