New Capitol riot footage shows Jon Schaffer allegedly challenging police
Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer is currently facing six federal charges for his involvement in the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Now, new footage from the event at the Capitol has been released and allegedly shows Schaffer confronting police as Trump supporters breached the building. As well, it looks like Iced Earth guitarist Jake […]
Now, a new video from the Capitol insurrection has been released. This week, CNN shared new security footage that allegedly shows Schaffer among the Pro-Trump supporters confronting police as the mob breached the Capitol.
At around the 1:15 mark, Schaffer can allegedly be seen in the bottom left corner of the screen in a black and bright blue coat. He is also wearing a black hat and his white goatee is visible.
In the brief clip, Schaffer can be seen allegedly gesturing and yelling something towards Capitol police. Currently, CNN has not specifically identified him as one of the individuals in the video.
Over the past few weeks, a lot of details about Schaffer’s arrest and court hearings have been reported. So far, Schaffer has been in front of a federal magistrate twice, but has chosen to stay in federal custody. Then, at the end of January, we learned that Schaffer was being extradited to Washington, D.C. after his legal team agreed to handle all further court proceedings there.
Earlier this week, Iced Earth vocalist Stu Block and Luke Appleton confirmed they are no longer part of the band. Now, it looks like guitarist Jake Dreyer may have also parted ways with the project. Although Dreyer has not made an official statement, he reportedly told TMZthat he hasn’t been in Iced Earth since 2018.
“Iced Earth employed him from 2016 to 2018 but now he’s focused solely on playing with his own band Witherfall,” TMZ reports. “Jake says he enjoyed his time with IE, but ‘it’s unfortunate how this tragedy unfolded.’”
As well, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Iced Earth is no longer listed as one of Dreyer’s projects on Instagram. If all of this is true, then Schaffer and drummer Brent Smedley are the only members left in Iced Earth.
Shortly after Schaffer’s arrest, Iced Earth released a statement denouncing the events that transpired at the U.S. Capitol last month. However, they failed to address Schaffer’s involvement in the insurrection. Additionally, Block came under fire following an attempt to clarify his stance on the riots after a now-deleted post seemingly showed he was in support of the U.S. Capitol breach.
“I told Jon and Century Media[Demons & Wizards’ record label] on Monday that I was leaving the Demons & Wizards project with immediate effect. My collaboration with Jon on Demons & Wizards is over.”
As well, in mid-January, it was brought to light that Century Media may be taking action following Schaffer’s arrest. Both of Schaffer’s projects – Iced Earth and Demons & Wizards – have disappeared from the label’s online roster. Although the bands no longer appear on the label’s current roster, they are also missing from the roster of former artists. Additionally, both of the band’s merch is no longer available on Century Media’s webstore.
What are your reactions to the new security footage from the U.S. Capitol insurrection? Let us know in the comments below.