The Washington, D.C. police are searching for Iced Earth guitarist and leader Jon Schaffer, one of 38 people of interest who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, as identified by photos. Now the FBI is hunting him down, too.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office issued a call late last night, January 7, “seeking the public’s assistance in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.” The FBI has set up four individual web pages for the effort, each with 10 photos, one of which contains the widely circulated picture of Schaffer pointing angrily inside the Capitol.
Anyone with information regarding these individuals, or anyone who witnessed any unlawful violent actions at the Capitol or near the area, is encouraged to contact the FBI’s Toll-Free Tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) to verbally report tips. You may also submit any information, photos, or videos that could be relevant online at fbi.gov/USCapitol. You may also contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
At this point we’re assuming both the D.C. police and FBI know Schaffer’s identity. The only question is where he is. Is he a fugitive, hiding from the authorities? We can only speculate.
Schaffer’s bandmate, Iced Earth singer Stu Block, implicitly supported Schaffer’s participation in the riots on social media, posting a giant heart and the hashtag #love, and he also responded to a fan on social media who said he could “no longer support the band you are in” by saying “t[h]is is your decision and how you feel and I must absolutely respect that.” The band’s guitarist, Jake Dreyer (also of Witherfall), declined to comment to MetalSucks on the issue, citing legal advice.
Die Welt, the German newspaper that interviewed Iced Earth mastermind Jon Schaffer at a pro-Trump rally in November, shared video of that interview this morning. Schaffer told the reporter, “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.”
Schaffer went on to promise “bloodshed” if the “criminal mafia that been in the shadows running the world” does not step aside:
“I think this goes beyond President Trump. President Trump is a populist. He’s not your typical Republican. He’s not 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.”
Frequently seen sporting a confederate flag bandana, Schaffer has repeatedly expressed a distrust of the government (with a special emphasis on the federal reserve), claimed that Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 because of illegal immigrants, and said that teachers should be armed.
Meanwhile, in July, Schaffer told MetalSucks’ that he did not believe the coronavirus pandemic to be a real threat, referring to it as the “plandemic,” claiming that coronavirus case counts have been artificially inflated, and suggesting that the current economic shutdown was orchestrated by a small group of global elites with profits in mind:
“I believe this is a psychological warfare campaign on the people more than it is a serious pandemic. I think there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye here, in fact, I know this is. I mean, legitimate doctors and scientists are being banned or censored on YouTube constantly, it’s… unbelievable levels of fraud. Not saying we don’t have a problem but the human race has faced this kind of thing for millennia, I mean, it just goes on and we don’t shut down the global economy. The death and unrest out of these decisions is going to be a thousand times worse than the virus.”
Asked about spikes in specific parts of the country, Schaffer replied:
“I think that’s where we have to start questioning the data, the way the tests are. I mean, look, the information is out there; turn off the television. I don’t give a shit what network you’re listening to, they’re lying to you. That’s the reality of it. There’s no excuse anymore in this day and age for people not to be able to figure out the tyranny we’re living under, there’s just no excuse. “But you need to disconnect from the mainstream media sources; and I’m not saying listen to Fox News, because in this country it’s Pepsi or Coke. You have two choices, its a duopoly on mind control and I don’t go for either one of those situations. “I’m just telling you, man, there’s so much evidence out there and if you understand the game plan of the handlers themselves, than you’ll understand why I wrote the things I did in Sons of Liberty, the things that I did on ‘Dystopia,’ and ‘Plagues of Babylon’ [Iced Earth’s 10th and 11th studio albums, respectively] for that matter, because I read their game plan. I’ve read their battle plan, I’ve read their books so I know what they’re up to. “It’s not rocket science. It’s literally about putting pieces of a puzzle together to see what the controllers of our society and what their vision of the future is and how they’re going to get to that point. This is just another move in this Plandemic. “There’s a lot to it, but you know, I’ve done thousands of hours of research and this is my understanding of the situation. It goes back, this whole movement is being funded by a very small group of people that have very dark designs for the future of humanity and the world and this is what’s happening. It’s just clear. It affirms everything I’ve studied for decades.”
Pressed for more details regarding these alleged global controllers, Schaffer said:
“It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. The global elite families that run the Federal Reserve banking system, that’s basically all of the central banks around the world. It’s absolutely the way the world works. So start with reading ‘The Creature From Jekyll Island,’ research the council on foreign relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg. “All of these things are real, they’re happening, and you’re never going to hear about it on the mainstream news because they’re the gatekeepers of what’s happening. It’s not paranoid conspiracy theory, it’s conspiracy fact. And anybody that is naive enough to think that people with power would not conspire to keep their power, is living in a fucking fantasy. Period.”
He went on to assert that he had no interest in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine:
“I don’t know when my band [Iced Earth] is going to be able to get back together because there’s all these criminal governors all over the states saying, ‘there’s never going to be another public gathering until there’s a vaccine.’ Well, fuck you. Nobody’s going to forcibly vaccinate me. Not happening.”
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