It would appear that the FBI are now seeking Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer for his alleged involvement in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC this past Wednesday, January 06th.
Schaffer is widely thought to have been among the pro-Trump protestors who breached the building, having been identified as such by numerous fans after this Getty photograph from the riot made the rounds.
That photograph was one of the many the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia circulated yesterday, January 07th, seeking help from the public to identify the persons of interest pictured.
This morning the FBI‘s Washington Field Office released a series of photos seeking help in identifying those who unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol Building. The photo thought to feature Schaffer was among those released by the FBI.
German newspaper Die Welt have released this video interview with Schaffer which was conducted at a protest regarding the results of the U.S. election in Washington, DC this past November. In it, Schaffer stated:
“My name is Jon Schaffer. I’m from Indiana. A group of thugs and criminals hijacked this country a long time ago. Now they’re making their big move, and it’s not gonna happen. And that’s what it is. These are globalists. These are the scum of the earth. These are the criminals that are behind all the fraudulent fee on currency, they’re behind all the wars, they’re behind all the shit.
They’re behind divide-and-conquer tactics, behind the racial divide. It’s all nonsense, it’s all garbage. People need to wake up and snap out of the matrix because they’re going down. They’ve made the move. They’re messing with the wrong people here—trust me on that. And we needed it to be open like this—open fraud, open theft. Because now we see you, and you’re going down. Mark my words.”
When asked whether or not he expected violence at that November event, he replied:
“If somebody wants to bring violence, I think there’s a lot of us here that are ready for it. We don’t want that, but if they bring it, we’re gonna respond to that—trust me.”
He later continued:
“I think this goes beyond President Trump. President Trump is a populist. He’s not your typical Republican. He’s not an establishment. He’s not going out starting wars all over the place like they do. Which is funny—where are all the Democrats that were anti-war? There’s so much hatred for Trump, it’s just ridiculous. He’s dealing with a criminal mafia that has been in the shadows running the world, frankly, for a very long time.
They wanna destroy all of our sovereignty and bring about global government. We’re not having it. We can still do business together, the countries can still be at peace, but we’re not gonna merge into some globalist, communist system. It will not happen. There will be a lot of bloodshed if it comes down to that—trust me. The American people will not go for that bullshit once they understand what’s actually happening. So, that’s where we’re at. Nobody wants this, but they’re pushing us to a point where we have no choice.”
The band later released a statement about the situation:
Yesterday [January 10th], singer Stu Block, bassist Luke Appleton, drummer Brent Smedley and guitarist Jake Dreyer released the following statement: “We want to thank those of you who have sent words of support in recent days. Some of you have been concerned by our silence, which we understand. We needed some time to properly process the information and find out some facts before we made a statement.
“First and foremost we absolutely DO NOT condone nor do we support riots or the acts of violence that the rioters were involved in on January 6th at the US Capitol building. We hope that all those involved that day are brought to justice to be investigated and answer for their actions.
“With broken hearts, we are sending our love and compassion to everyone who has felt pain from the events on January 6th. We are deeply saddened and our hearts go out to the families of the lives lost that day. There are really no proper words to console. Just know we are with you in your shock, grief and pain. Much love to you all.
Stu, Luke, Jake, ”
And that, kids, is why they say: “Never mix politics and music“.
#FBIWFO is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying those who made unlawful entry into U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. If you witnessed unlawful violent actions contact the #FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit photos/videos at https://t.co/NNj84wkNJP. https://t.co/KSUpFHyZZG pic.twitter.com/qS6cW0DX32
— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 8, 2021
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2021
