“They’re All Fucking Short-Bus People”: Capitol Riot Attorney Manages to Insult At Least Three Different Groups While Defending 1/6 Actions

Generally speaking, when a person is charged with a crime, they hire an attorney who they hope will strenuously defend them, probably not stopping to even entertain the idea that said attorney have a chat with a reporter and manage to insult millions of people in the process. And while it’s not clear if that’s the approach Jacob Chansley—a.k.a. the “QAnon Shaman,“ a.k.a. the shirtless guy who stormed the Capitol on January 6 wearing face paint and a furry hat with horns—took when assembling his legal team, in the future, he should probably plan to ask any potential lawyers, “You’re not going to use the phrase ‘fucking retarded’ while discussing my case, are you?”

Yes, that’s right. In an interview with Talking Points Memo, Chansley‘s lawyer, Albert Watkins, suggested that his client’s mental state, combined with the impact of Donald Trump’s “propaganda” efforts to convince people the election was stolen and that they should storm the Capitol, will play a part in his defense. All of which sounds reasonable! Then Watkins said this: “A lot of these defendants—and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully—but they’re all fucking short-bus people. These are people with brain damage, they’re fucking retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.”

There’s a lot to unpack here, but first, let’s pause to appreciate that Watkins thinks it might be offensive to use the phrase “short bus,” but he really can‘t be sure. The Missouri–based lawyer then goes on to conflate intellectual disabilities, brain damage, and Autism, which of course are three separate things. To say nothing of the fact that there’s no evidence that any of them cause people to act violently, or try to overturn presidential elections. After offending who knows how many people, Watkins—who, incidentally, defended the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter activists—charitably added: “But they’re our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our coworkers—they’re part of our country. These aren’t bad people, they don’t have prior criminal history. Fuck, they were subjected to four-plus years of goddamn propaganda the likes of which the world has not seen since fucking Hitler.” 

Obviously, it’s entirely true that Trump and his allies spent months insisting that the election had been stolen, before inviting supporters to the “Stop the Steal” rally, and all but walking them to the Capitol. But that argument is unlikely to sway a judge. “It doesn’t matter if they were answering [Trump’s] call in terms of their own guilt or innocence,” Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general, told TPM reporter Matt Shuham. “The law doesn’t recognize it as an excuse. Whatever brought them there, whatever they were spurred on to do, social media postings or whatever, they’re equally guilty under the federal statutes.” In fact, it didn’t even work to get the QAnon Shaman released from jail before his trial, despite Watkins’s efforts, TPM noted. “Even taking defendant’s claim at face value, it does not persuade the Court that defendant would not pose a danger to others if released,” Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in March. “If defendant truly believes that the only reason he participated in an assault on the U.S. Capitol was to comply with President Trump’s orders, this shows defendant’s inability (or refusal) to exercise his independent judgment and conform his behavior to the law.” 

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Surprise: Kevin McCarthy won’t support a Congressional inquiry to investigate the attack on the Capitol

Such an inquiry might turn up even more evidence that Trump incited the mob that tried to overturn democracy, and the House Republican leader just can’t have that. Per CNN:

McCarthy’s opposition to the bipartisan agreement for an independent commission comes ahead of a House vote this week to create the panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission, which would be tasked with investigating the circumstances behind supporters of then-President Donald Trump breaching the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote for President Joe Biden. The bipartisan agreement to establish the January 6 commission was reached last week by House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and the panel’s top Republican, Rep. John Katko of New York, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

But McCarthy and other top Republicans did not endorse the agreement Katko had reached, which would give McCarthy much of what he’d sought from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, including an even number of Democrats and Republicans and sign-off from both sides for subpoenas…McCarthy and other Republicans have argued that any commission should also look at violence involving Antifa and riots that occurred during protests of police brutality last year. Democrats charge that Republicans are simply trying to obfuscate Trump’s role lying about the election being stolen in the lead-up to January 6 attack.

The GOP opposition to the commission comes, of course, as numerous Republican lawmakers have attempted to re-write the events of January 6. Earlier this month, Rep. Paul Gosar called the individuals who violently broke into the Capitol “peaceful patriots” and claimed that the Department of Justice is “harassing“ them. Rep. Ralph Norman, like colleagues before him, cast doubt on the fact that the crowd that attacked the building was actually made up of Trump supporters, despite the fact that Trump had invited his supporters to D.C. for his “Stop the Steal” rally and then directed them to march to the Capitol. Rep. Andrew Clyde, apparently born without the constraints of shame, declared: “Let me be clear, there was no insurrection and to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie. Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.” Meanwhile, McCarthy has been in furious damage control mode for Trump, claiming in April that the ex-president intervened in the riot as soon as he could, which is obviously not true. So you can probably understand why he wouldn’t want anyone digging into the events of the day.

Not everyone is happy about the CDC’s new masking guidance

Local officials and some health professionals believe the federal agency went too far:

Emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen said the whiplash was particularly drastic because she said the CDC had been too careful in its guidance on what vaccinated people can do. In April, the CDC said fully vaccinated people can unmask at small outdoor gatherings and when dining outside with friends from multiple households. Now, Wen said, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. The new guidance could essentially allow anyone to go mask-free indoors without proof of vaccination. And that kind of honor system might jeopardize others, including children under the age of 12 who can’t get vaccinated yet and adults who might be at more risk than they think.

The honor system asking those who are not vaccinated to continue to wear masks is “not working,” Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday night. Lucas said city leaders were “caught off guard” by the CDC’s announcement on masks last week. He said that their goal has been to align with the CDC on decisions and announcements. He said the situation is a challenge to enforce. “Those of us who have been vaccinated are the ones who don’t have a problem wearing a mask,” Lucas said. The mayor said he wants the CDC to get back to the point of “encouraging those to get vaccinated rather than celebrating our newfound freedoms, because the honor system is not working here” or other parts of the country.

“We’ve now made life much less safe for people who are unvaccinated, for immunocompromised individuals and for young children who cannot yet be vaccinated,” Wen told CNN. “I think the CDC meant to say something really good, which is these vaccines are really protective. There were unintended consequences of their actions.”

Elsewhere!

Texas Gov. Abbott threatens to fine cities and local officials if they impose mask mandates (CNBC)

Biden jokingly threatens to run over a reporter asking about Israel as he test-drives new electric Ford truck (Insider)

Fidelity launching accounts that let teens play stock market (NYP)

Bank of America to Raise Minimum Wage to $25 Per Hour in Race for Talent (Bloomberg)

Credit Traders Have No Room for Error in Dot-Com Bubble Redux (Bloomberg)

New Jerseyans on another Christie presidential run: No thanks (Politico)

Fund Managers Say ‘Long Bitcoin’ Is the Most Crowded Trade in the World (Bloomberg)

111-year-old Australian recommends eating chicken brains (AP)

‘Hangry’ alligator relocated after chasing customers at Wendy’s (UPI)

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