Former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone blasted Democrats in Congress ahead of the anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 (J6), Capitol riot, accusing them of “cowardice” for not doing enough to stand up against President Donald Trump.
During an interview with Ayman Mohyeldin on MS Now’s “The Weekend: Primetime,” Fanone, who was seriously injured on J6, expressed anger at members of the Democratic Party, specifically calling out the U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Democrats should be doing more, period, full stop, to fight back against this administration,” Fanone said when asked if he thought Democrats in Congress were doing enough to preserve the “accurate historical narrative” of Jan. 6 after Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Referring to the millions of American protesters who marched in last year’s series of anti-Trump “No Kings” demonstrations, Fanone said, “The American people have demanded…Democratic leadership do more to fight back against this administration, and so far they’ve shown nothing other than cowardice.”
Calling out Jeffries, he added, “Hakeem Jeffries, you’re a coward.” Interestingly, Fanone did not specifically mention Senator Chuck Schumer, who is the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate. However, the former police officer also condemned Republicans in Congress, referring to them as “traitors” for backing Trump’s actions.
“We have two parties right now in America, we’ve got one party of traitors, and we’ve got one party of cowards,” he said.
Fanone continued, “And so, yes…You should teach January 6th as an insurrection because it was, and that we laid out, both in the Select Committee’s investigation and Jack Smith’s investigation, that Donald Trump lied to the American people. Those lies fueled the response to his rally on January 6th. And then he directed those angry Americans to storm the Capitol, attack law enforcement in an effort to postpone the certification of the election.”
Ironically, Democrats will host a special hearing on Tuesday commemorating the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, who served as chairman of the now-defunct January 6th Select Committee.
In a Dear Colleague letter about the hearing, Leader Jeffries said the hearing will “examine ongoing threats to free and fair elections posed by an out-of-control Trump administration, expose the election deniers who hold high-level positions of significance in the executive branch and detail the threats to public safety posed by the hundreds of violent felons who were pardoned on the President’s first day in office.”
Jeffries said the “cost” of the Jan. 6 riot was “profound,” noting that more than 140 police officers were seriously injured and many suffered “lasting physical and psychological trauma.”
“In the years since that disgraceful day, far-right Republicans in Congress have repeatedly attempted to rewrite history and whitewash the events of January 6th,” said the Democratic leader. “Our country has been indelibly scarred.”
