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Rep. Bennie Thompson disputed accusations by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson that the Jan. 6 Select Committee deceptively edited the thousands of hours of U.S. Capitol security footage.
The Mississippi Democrat and former committee chairman also claimed he was unaware of Jan. 6 defendant Jacob Chansley, the “Q-Anon Shaman” who was sentenced to almost four years in prison.
“I don’t know who he is,” Mr. Thompson said of Mr. Chansley, the protester best known for wearing a fur-horned helmet, exposing his tattooed bare chest and wearing face paint.
Prosecutors claimed that although Mr. Chansley was never accused of violence, he was the “public face of the Capitol riot” who went into the attack with a weapon, a flagpole topped with a spear tip.
The media portrayed Mr. Chansley as a violent individual, but the newly released footage showed he entered the Capitol through an open door on the Senate side with a group of people and was peacefully escorted by Capitol Police into the Senate chamber.
