You can read Jon Schaffer’s first interview since Capitol riot arrest

Jon Schaffer, the guitarist for Iced Earth, has conducted his first interview since being taken into custody for his role in the rioting at the US Capitol. Schaffer was caught and captured on surveillance tape as one of the crowd that had rushed into one of the building’s entrances. Soon after the riot, he was taken into custody and held for three months. Schaffer’s first interview since his was with the podcast It’s Later Than You Think, which has a connection to the church. Schaffer discussed his motivation for attending the demonstrations that culminated in the rioting on January 6th during that conversation.

In the famous interview that I did that they showed everywhere, I said, this isn’t about President Trump. I mean, I believe that he’s a good man who loves his country. But the American people are worked up because we’re sick of the tyranny. And he happens to be the figurehead against that. But for me, I would’ve been just as pissed off if they stole the election from the Democrats, because that means that’s the end of our republic, which actually has been hijacked for a very long time… I’m just anti-tyranny. I want people to be free. I want people to be able to be free to speak their minds, to worship, to live, to prosper. That’s what we’ve been told our whole lives that’s what our country stands for. We realize how much we’ve been lied to, but the fact is that’s what it was founded upon. And they have demonized everything about our history to the point that if we don’t bring common sense back into this discussion, it will be unrecognizable. Now I realize my behavior wasn’t the greatest behavior and wasn’t the smartest thing that I ever did, but it was entrapment — one hundred percent. I mean, there’s no doubt. The truth is gonna come out about this. The bad thing is I know better. But I let my emotions get a whole handle on me, and I think there was a force at work there, which I can’t really put into words.

Schaffer also described what he remembered doing on that fateful day.

It took me an hour to get to the Capitol because trying to walk quickly through masses of people like that was not an easy thing to do… It was only a mile, but, which normally I could knock that out pretty quick. But it was just packed. There were people all around you and moving at different paces and some very unfit people moving at really slow paces — I’d say a lot of those. But it was already chaos when I got there. And I just went kind of in a straight line. It was sort of like an energy flow going that way, but it was obviously a lot of chaos already going on. From what I heard, people started before Trump was even done speaking, heading over there, stirring up trouble. And so I don’t know how many of those people would be agent provocateurs… But I was going in and went up the stairs… I didn’t see any entrances being breached. I actually didn’t see any of that. So I don’t know where that took place. I just saw the same videos that other people have. But I was going up the stairs and I felt what sounded like concussion grenades going off. It was loud. It sounded like it was within the building. And then tear gas canisters were blowing up over the top of us and these girls were coming down the stairs. They were probably 50 feet apart, crying. They’re destroying stuff up there. That’s not what this is about. So I’m, like, getting more charged up, like, ‘What’s going on?’ I didn’t know what was going on. I did not expect that patriots were setting off flash bangs or concussion grenades or whatever I was hearing. It doesn’t make sense because that’s not what the movement’s about. It’s not a violent movement. You could see that. It’s a very family-oriented movement. I would say that most of the people are just freedom loving, probably a lot of Christians and a lot of of good-hearted Americans… And so destroying property, that’s not what we do. That’s not our thing. So it became more and more alarming as I was getting higher up the stairs. And there were people on the scaffolds and a lot of stuff was being said and yelled and people were yelling and I saw guys coming down that had been sprayed, which is kind of a weird thing to see when you see it for the first time, because it takes a second for you realize, and then, of course, I found out. [Laughs] But they can’t see. But they look normal when you’re looking at ’em. But then you see that they can’t see ’cause they’ve been tear gassed or pepper sprayed or whatever, chemical irritant. And so I just went up. I don’t even know if I had a model of the Capitol, if I could tell you where I was. But there were scaffolds right next to the stairway that was going up and there was a deck up there.. But it looks like it would be a place that maybe they do photographs or something. The doorway that I went in, there was no handles on the doorway. These were doors that I’m certain are very secure. I saw the police officer — he was masked up, but I still identified him; I recognized him — communicating. I saw him through the glass communicating. He was on the other side of the door. The door was not opened at this point, and he was looking up at the camera communicating, and I’m assuming that he was telling central command there to unlock those doors, because those doors, I can almost guarantee you, are magnetically sealed. I mean, it’s the Capitol of the United States. You’re not gonna be able to just take a hammer and break a window and reach around and grab… And there was no handles on the exterior anyway… I saw him do it… Or at least maybe they weren’t mechanically open, but whatever the mechanism is, the magnetic mechanism. And so he opens the door and a few people come out, and just as the door was closing, there was another group of people that yelled, ‘Hey, can we go in there?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, come on in.’ They let ’em in. Then the door closed and some period of time later another group came rushing out, and that’s when they said, ‘The cops are afraid. They’re beating an old man in there. Let’s go.’ And that’s what I got caught up in was that last thing. And it wasn’t too long after that I got in there that I saw the cop that was communicating to open the door just standing very calmly up in the stairs. ‘Cause like you go through the hall and there’s a ways down, there’s a staircase up here. And he’s, like, three or four steps up, just with his arms crossed, looking at everything. And then the police officers are backpedaling because we’re coming in. And then I caught off to the side — which, hell, at this point could be crisis actors for all I know. I don’t know. It was just pandemonium. I start yelling at ’em. The police, when it looked like to me like an old biker vet was getting hit with a baton by the one that was on the far end on the right, and I started yelling at him and yelling about them not keeping their oaths and ‘Congress is full of criminals.’ ‘What are you doing?’ Whatever. Not nice things, I’m sure, I was saying. But then I got sprayed.

Schaffer has subsequently embraced Christianity in the wake of the incident and his arrest, becoming baptized and often attending church. Schaffer said this in response to a question about whether he saw his baptism as a kind of rebirth.

Just that. I know that it doesn’t guarantee salvation or something like that. That’s not the point. It was a more of that I had no choice when I was a baby, and this was a choice that I wanted to make. That’s all, really. There’s nothing more to it. And so I did. And then I moved back to Indiana and found you wonderful people [at Cornerstone Church] and realized how much we have in common. And I don’t know. It’s just amazing the way God works. And so I think the next level after me studying God’s word, going to Lakeview Church — I still watch Lakeview Church services on Sunday nights when I get home from work. Because I learn, and I like to learn. The next step was when I forgave my parents. That was a big step. It was a huge one. ‘Cause I didn’t realize it. It was just one of those things — the Holy Spirit told me, revealed it to me somehow. Like, ‘Dude, you can’t not forgive your parents.’ .. And it’s still a journey. I think it’s always gonna be a struggle just because the human aspect of it.

He also spoke about his affiliations with Oath Keepers.

There’s the whole fake story of the Oath Keepers thing. I mean, yes, I signed up to be a supporter of Oath Keepers when it first started, and I don’t even remember what year that was. I’d say it was like [200]9, [20]10, [20]11. I don’t know when they started, but it was right at the beginning, I saw an interview with Stewart and I was just, like, ‘Yeah.’ I mean, who wouldn’t want elected officials and first responders in military to take their oath seriously? Why is that a bad thing? So, yeah, I sent whatever the money was — I don’t even remember the cost; it was eight or nine hundred bucks — and you get the ultimate swag and the lifetime membership and whatever. And I guess technically I am [a founding member] because I sent them money and I was probably one of the first, ’cause I was super excited when I heard about it, ’cause I realized even at that time, like, we’re in serious trouble. I had been awake for a while. So, anyway, they created the whole narrative. I didn’t have any information on Oath Keepers, and I’m not even sure that those guys broke any laws. The only person I identified was the cop that opened the door. The Oath Keepers thing, that was a narrative that they created to try to get others to break, as if I had some kind of information. I mean, dude, I am a touring heavy metal guy. I’m not the founder leader of a militia. And I’m not even sure that they did anything wrong. I don’t know. I didn’t see any violence. I saw the mainstream media saying, ‘They walked up the stairs in a military stack formation.’ I’m looking at the footage. It looks kind of like they’re making their way up the stairs. But that was the narrative, and I couldn’t say anything. I was threatened to make any public statement — threatened. ‘It’s gonna go very bad for you at sentencing if you say anything.’ ‘Cause they knew they were creating a false narrative.

He discussed the general fallout from the riots and the subsequent legal action against the participants.

I think the J6ers, besides our president, have gone through possibly the worst political persecution, probably the worst political persecution in the history of the country. And the damage that’s done, some of it’s never gonna be repaired. And it doesn’t matter if we win a lawsuit against the federal government for all the abuses of our rights. I mean, that’s money, man. That’s not gonna get back. You’re not gonna get your reputation back. Some people died, some people killed themselves, man, because of the pressure… It is just horrible what went on. The stories and the truth is gonna come out. I expect there’s gonna be a lot of books. But I think many of the people that were in there were Christians anyway. And in fact, I know that — at least on my cell block there were. That also helped me come around to it because there was a lot of love there amongst us. It was a relief to me after being in the hellholes that I was at to be — if I’m gonna be locked up, these are the guys I wanna be locked up with. But I just hope that as bad as it is that all of all of us are gonna be able to find the peace and strength in Christ. That’s where it’s at. It’s the only place you’re gonna get it. It’s the only way you’re gonna get any peace. There is no medication that’s gonna help this. Money’s not gonna help it. Only Jesus can help this.

Schaffer was pardoned by President Trump earlier in 2025.

The president kept his word. I think he’s the only politician in my lifetime that does what he says he is gonna do. Do I agree with him on every single thing? Nope. Will I agree with everybody on every single thing? Nope. But he’s a man of honor. That’s for sure. You can say a lot of things about him… But I think it’s important for the healing of the country because… Obviously, many people are brainwashed by the narrative. People think I was a rat against the Oath Keepers, like I had some kind of information. I had no information about what those guys were doing. That’s in my little bubble. Half of the country believes that people were there for a violent insurrection, because that’s been repeated over and over and over by the fake news and the mocking bird media. We have got to have some serious truths laid out to the American people, whatever that’s gonna end up looking like.I think it’s coming. And there’s gonna be those that are so locked and under mind control that they’re not gonna be able to handle it or won’t accept it or whatever. But there’s a horrible evil, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the political party. There’s evil in both parties in this country and everywhere. And so maybe some big truth bombs are gonna come out that will shock the populace to a point that we can truly heal and come back together. I believe deeply in our Bill Of Rights and the Constitution and especially that glorious, beautiful Declaration Of Independence. I mean, that is the document for me. And I just think that we have to be shocked, we have to go through something that’s gonna make people… We’ve gotta come together, man. We’ve gotta come together and get back to being Americans, and I think only the truth is gonna do that at this point. If things come out that I’m pretty convinced have been going on and becomes mainstream, then it’d be the thing that… I can’t see how it couldn’t bring us all together. I just can’t see how it couldn’t, because there’s code in prison for people that hurt children. You know what I mean? That’s a line in the sand. There’s a very, very small group, group of people that think that’s okay… Most of the people are not okay with that. So I just think that even some of those people, as brainwashed [as they are or] whatever, when the real crimes against the children get exposed, then it’s gonna be a thing that, if anything, can unite us in terms of in the world and in politics. I see that as being a chance. But, anyway, it’s God’s plan that’s rolling out and there’s no stopping that.

Now he’s considering returning back to music.

There’s a few releases that I’ve got up my sleeve that we’re gonna be working on. In terms of new material, I’m gonna give that a little bit of time. I need to know that there’s clear artistic direction and not something that’s manufactured by me. Because I’ve done enough records in my career to know some of ’em were wedged into schedules because tours on either side and you’re kind of forced into a writing mode because of schedule pressures and other commitments. And sometimes working under pressure is really great, and other times you’re going through the motions. And so whatever I would do going forward, I only wanna do something that’s gonna be great. I don’t want anything to be forced. And I want it to glorify God. And I think there’s just so much, from a creative standpoint… There’s actually been some biblical stuff throughout my catalog anyway, but from the eyes of a Christian now, like, man, there’s so much inspiration there that hopefully would have a good effect on people. So I hope that comes back to me. I hope that it’s, like, ‘Okay, it’s time. Activate.’ But I don’t know.