The ‘QAnon Shaman’ is not connected to Nancy Pelosi

Is a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist really buddies with the Pelosi family?

The answer is no.

But that hasn’t stopped an image portraying the “QAnon Shaman” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s son-in-law from going viral. The photo was taken during Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol and has spread on Twitter, Parler, and numerous right-wing message boards.

The image shows the QAnon figure — whose real name is Jake Angeli — with American-Dutch journalist Michiel Vos, who happens to also be Congresswoman Pelosi’s son-in-law. It has been used by conservatives to claim Angeli was actually a left-wing provocateur and not really a Trump supporter. 

The photo is real and not photoshopped. However, the claims made based on the photo are false.

The pic originally aired on a Dutch late-night talk show hosted by Eva Jinek. Vos, who is married to Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra Petri, works as an American news correspondent for the program. He appeared on the show on Wednesday night to provide on-the-ground coverage from DC. 

The image of Vos with Angeli appeared with numerous other photos Vos took while reporting from the Capitol. It appears at the the 7:43 mark in a video of the show.

“I’m very confused. I’ve never seen this before. This is very weird. This is going way too far…this is not something that happens in America,” Vos says in the segment. (Mashable translated his comments from Dutch.) “Or maybe it does because this is the new America?”

Vos says that he was at the location when the pro-Trump crowd started rushing in. That’s when he snapped that photo. He further explained that he could not reach his family inside the Capitol building for three hours.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories spreading in the wake of the Trump-inspired storming of the Capitol on Wednesday are turning supporters of the outgoing president against one another.

A number of conservatives, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz included, are sharing since-debunked falsehoods in an attempt to paint those who broke into the Capitol building as antifa instigators. 

Jake Angeli, who is better known in right-wing circles as the “QAnon Shaman,” is a main focus of this disinformation campaign.  

Angeli was one of the first Trump supporters to make it into the Capitol and breach the Senate chambers. Adorned in face paint and a viking helmet, Angeli sticks out in photographs, making him both instantly recognizable and an easy target for such a claim.

The QAnon Shaman, however, has been a long-time public supporter of Trump, regularly seen at rallies and protests in support of the president…often spouting right-wing conspiracy theories himself.

Angeli, who claims to also work as an actor, which has helped fuel these conspiracies against him, has tried to pushback on the misinformation on Twitter.

Judging by the replies to his tweet, however, the Shaman hasn’t been too successful.

Angeli may yet have bigger concerns to deal with. The DC Police Department shared his photo on Thursday as a “person of interest” in the investigation into the Capitol siege.