'QAnon Shaman' lawyer issues shockingly offensive defense of client's role in Capitol riot

Albert Watkins, the attorney for Jacob Chansley (perhaps better known as "QAnon Shaman"), spoke on the record with Talking Points Memo about his client's alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In the interview, published by TPM on Tuesday, Watkins used shockingly offensive language in an attempt to defend Chansley's alleged actions, saying Chansley has Asperger's syndrome, and asserting that other participants in the riot have intellectual disabilities that were to blame. "These are people with brain damage," he said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.