Officer Fanone talks about his experience on Jan. 6, describing the “rhetoric” from politicians downplaying the day as dangerous and not at all what he and his colleagues experienced.
Though Fanone didn’t name Donald Trump specifically, the former President falsely claimed in an interview with Fox News last month that the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol behaved properly with law enforcement and there was “zero threat” to the building. Trump also claimed that some of the rioters “went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards.”
Fanone suffered a heart attack and a concussion during the insurrection and is now dealing with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life,” he said Tuesday. “Let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career, nor was I prepared to experience.”
“I want people to understand the significance of January 6,” Fanone said Tuesday. “I want people to understand that thousands of rioters came to the Capitol hell-bent on violence and destruction and murder.”
