What you did was terrible. The judge, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, said that you were the epitome of the riot. You didn't fight anyone, but you did obstruct the functioning of the government. It is a serious crime.
Chansley pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct Congress in order to prevent them from certifying the results of the 2020 election. He sought a pardon from Donald Trump just before his term ended, and he has since claimed that he was tricked into believing that the election was stolen. He offered to testify at the trial but was denied.
The Capitol has become a symbol of the attack. He wore face paint and a horned headdress, which he says was part of his shamanistic attire, and he carried a flagpole with a sharp tip while towering menacingly over police officers outside the Senate chamber.
One of the first 700 people connected to the Jan. 6 attack was ordered held in pre-release confinement due to his prominence in the community and uncertain sources of financing. He made headlines for an interview with "60 Minutes+" and a successful fight to get organic food because of his religious belief, but he was rebuked by the judge.
Chansley said that it did wonders for him.
The decision to move Chansley from the D.C. jail to a Virginia jail led to some criticism.
The judge said that he took a lot of flak for it.
Chansley had appealed his sentence, saying it had changed him as a person. He lamented that he had become synonymous with the horrors of the Capitol attack because he had a personality disorder.
Chansley said during the address to the court that he never meant to create that many bad juju. My attire is designed to ward off evil spirits.
Chansley wore a drab green jail jumpsuit in court. He had a beard and a clean-shaven head. The large tattoos on his arms were the only sign that he had struck a bad image.
Standing at the courtroom lectern without his attorney but with a deputy marshal behind him, Chansley praised his military service and quoted Justice Clarence Thomas.
Chansley insisted that he accepted full responsibility for his actions, but he also argued that he posed no ongoing threat to others and that he was dismayed at how he had been portrayed in the media.
I have no excuse for entering the Capitol. He said the behavior is indefensible.
I am not a dangerous criminal. I'm not a violent man. I'm not an insurrectionist. I am not a terrorist. Chansley said he is a good man who broke the law.
Albert Watkins, Chansley's attorney, said that his client's mental health issues were identified when he was in the Navy a decade and a half ago, but that Chansley was never told of the diagnosis or given proper treatment.
Watkins suggested that some people had been tricked, used or exploited, but he didn't mention that point.
During his remarks, Chansley didn't address the conspiracy theories, his views on the election or the role Trump played in inspiring the riot.
Watkins told reporters that his client accepted the election results as valid and that he lost faith in Trump after he ignored Chansley's request for a pardon.
The defense attorney said that President Trump is not important to him. The message of any political thought at this point is meaningless.
Watkins said that Trump had a duty to take care of a lot of the jackasses that he had insulted.
A lot of people were impacted by the president on January 6.
The federal sentencing guidelines called for between 41 and 51 months in prison for Chansley.
Watkins asked that Chansley be given a sentence that was less than the range, but prosecutors wanted him to be sentenced at the top end of the range. They did not agree with the argument that he was a peaceful participant in the mob.
The assistant U.S. Attorney said that if the defendants had been peaceful, they wouldn't be here.
Chansley spent months whipping up followers into a frenzy over false claims of voter fraud, according to Paschall. She said that Chansley walked past the police and onto the Senate dais, where he was met by a note written by Pence. Justice is on the way.
The prosecutor said that Chansley's statements were delivered during the riot and that he was still in danger.
Paschall said that he was feet away from the object of his contempt. The note was not nice. The note is threatening.
Watkins said that Chansley had cooperated with the government. Watkins noted that he is willing to offer more help.
The obstruction charge that Chansley pleaded guilty to and that other Capitol riot defendants are challenging in court carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Chansley said he was distraught for a period after his arrest because he thought he was going to get the maximum.
He thought it would be 20 years of solitary confinement.
Chansley used his remarks to suggest that the other defendants were more hardened than him.
He said that he was nothing like the people he had been with and that they were acting like they were in the Holiday Inn.
A New Jersey man was sentenced to 41 months in prison last week for punching a police officer in the face during the riot at the Capitol. The most severe meted out thus far is the pair of sentences.
As the court hearing concluded on Wednesday, he suggested that the remaining defendants in the Capitol riot cases should plead guilty. If he had gone to trial, he would have received more prison time.
The judge told Chansley that if they wanted to go to trial, they could. It may not feel like it today, but I guarantee you were smart.
