Capitol Officer Pens Op-Ed Exposing Trump/GOP Cowardice

Michael Fanone was a Washington, DC Police officer on January 6, when he was called to the nation’s Capitol Building for the Trump inspired attack. Metro and Capitol Police were overpowered by the seething crowd yet they fought on for hours in hand-to-hand combat. The crowd mauled him, and he heard someone say “take his gun and shoot him.” Then Fanone cried “I have kids! I have kids!”

He wrote that “it’s vital that the public understand just how close the country came to losing its democracy,” according to CNN:

‘It’s important that Americans see the hell depicted in the video footage to have a hint of an understanding of what law enforcement endured at the Capitol that day. It’s imperative that the country see how valiantly we fought to save our system of government. And it’s vital that the public understand just how close the country came to losing its democracy.’

Fanone was in the room when Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified during the prime-time hearing for the House January 6 Select Committee. Clearly, it was difficult for her to relive January 6. She was knocked unconscious when the first White nationalists broke the police line she held. Yet she got up and went right back into the fray. 

The retired police officer commented on her bravery, “she’s a warrior” and praised her “descriptions of the mayhem:”

‘I’m proud of her for finding the courage to do it. Her descriptions of the mayhem she confronted on January 6 were not just dramatic; they were horrific. The protest was bloody and unspeakably violent. Scores of officers were grievously injured. One Capitol Police officer lost his life after suffering a stroke following the assault on the Capitol. Four other officers were so emotionally devastated after hours of brutal hand-to-hand combat against the rioters that they took their own lives.’

He said that he “hung on to her every word.” Then he added a comment about “her haunting words describe “the ‘war scene:”‘

‘She described slipping in the blood of her colleagues as police fell all around her. Her haunting words described the “war scene” at the Capitol that day: “There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces.”‘

Fanone lost the “law enforcement career that I loved:” 

‘I’m no longer a cop, but I spilled my fair share of blood that day and almost lost my life defending our democracy. Don’t tell me January 6 didn’t happen. I was there. I have the scars — visible and those that can’t be readily seen — to prove it.’

He said that people watching the hearings will learn Donald Trump played the “central role in trying to overturn a free and fair election.”

Fanone understood that this attack on our democracy was “serious, significant, and is ongoing.” And Fanone hopes that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been looking at who was behind the insurrection. He added that the Select Committee has been providing “the road map to bring them to justice:”

‘I’ve never received a worse insult than being called a disgrace to the badge by fellow officers. That’s the same sort of shameful treatment that other officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 have been subjected to as well.’

Then, he spoke about the conspiracy theorists, that they include “current and former officials in government and prominent members of the media — who maintain that January 6 did not happen” or that the violence “was greatly exaggerated.”

 

Fanone retired from the force after 20 years on the job and serves as an on-air consultant for CNN now.