US Capitol rioter who wore horned headdress to be released early

Federal prisoners often complete their sentences sooner if they demonstrate good behavior, and Chansley was scheduled to be released in July. Yet ahead of that date, prison officials transferred Chansley to a halfway house in his home town of Phoenix, Arizona, federal records showed on Friday. His sentence is now scheduled to end on 25 May.

Watkins did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.

Federal halfway house residents in general are required to find a job and may be allowed to drive or use a cellphone for employment purposes. They can also get a pass to engage in recreational weekend activities, and may later be moved from the group halfway house to confinement at a private residence.

Before the Capitol attack, Chansley was a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which believes Trump is locked in mortal combat with an elite cabal of cannibalistic, pedophilic and satanist Democrats.

The former president gave a fiery speech falsely claiming that he had lost to Biden because of widespread electoral fraud, and Chansley joined a large group of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol that day in an attack that has been linked to nine deaths, including the suicides of officers who defended the building and were left traumatized.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested with roles in the Capitol attack as of Friday, and many of them have pleaded guilty. Trump is not one of them, though a New York state grand jury on Thursday charged him with allegedly making an illegal hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign that he won.