A D.C. police officer who was captured by the Jan. 6 mob at the U.S. Capitol and nearly beaten to death is calling out Republican lawmakers who are openly denying the violence that happened that day.
Officer Michael Fanone told CNN’s Don Lemon:
“I’m not interested in getting into political squabbles. I’m not a politician. I’m not an elected official. I don’t expect anybody to give two shits about my opinions. But I will say this: Those are lies. And peddling that bullshit is an assault on every officer that fought to defend the Capitol. It’s disgraceful.”
DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone speaks after @CNN obtained bodycam video showing him being brutally assaulted at the Capitol on Jan 6.
He tells @donlemon the lies being told about that day are “an assault on every officer that fought to defend the Capitol.” pic.twitter.com/OGjtMCSBcB — CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) May 14, 2021
The mob, egged on by then-President Donald Trump, was attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 election and keep Trump, who lost, in power. Many Republicans have since tried to defend Trump, and they’ve canceled anyone in the party who dared to criticize him. State and local GOP bodies have censured Republicans for speaking out, and this week, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was purged from party leadership in the House for blaming Trump for the insurrection and calling out his lies about the election.
Since the attack, several GOP lawmakers have gone into full denial mode, with Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) claiming “there was no insurrection” and insisting the footage from that day looked like “a normal tourist visit.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who was blamed by his own family for helping to incite the riot, called the insurrectionists “peaceful patriots” who were “harassed.”
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) even claimed that the real victims were Trump supporters.
And Trump has said the rioters were “hugging and kissing” the police.
Video from Fanone’s bodycam broadcast on CNN ― footage he watched with Lemon ― showed otherwise. He was assaulted by the mob, beaten with a flagpole and zapped with a stun gun:
Kerrguy on May 14th, 2021 at 15:22 UTC »
Why aren't we hearing more of this? All of the policeman that were involved that day should speak out like this man. Thank you.
hawkaulmais on May 14th, 2021 at 13:07 UTC »
So much for blue lives matter
UWCG on May 14th, 2021 at 13:00 UTC »
And yet the Republicans are blocking an inquiry into what happened on January sixth and gaslighting the nation by calling the storming of the Capitol "peaceful." Then you've got the entire "alternate reality" of right-wing media repeating that despite video evidence to the contrary. It's bizarre and frighteningly Orwellian.