Michael Fanone, a retired Washington, D.C. police officer who suffered life-threatening injuries during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, condemned Donald Trump Friday for celebrating the rioters as he seeks a second term in office.
The cop appeared Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to discuss the former president's claim of absolute immunity that's under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. He blasted the arguments from Trump's attorney and questions asked by the conservative justices as infuriating.
"It was pretty difficult listening to the Supreme Court justices debate this in the abstract, having experienced so much of the end result of the president's conduct firsthand," Fanone said.
"Where is the urgency to address the matter at hand, the former president's conduct? I mean, the other thing that struck me is I'm less concerned with what the inevitable outcome is. I'm not a legal scholar and, frankly, I don't have a clue, but why has it taken so long to get here? It's three and a half years after the American people witnessed firsthand, you know, what Donald Trump's supporters did, inspired by his lies, in a scheme, this elector scheme to subvert democracy, when they stormed the Capitol and beat the hell out of police officers.
"You know, why did it take that effort — why did we need a congressional select committee to investigate this and spoon-feed the American people probable cause, spoon-feed [Attorney General] Merrick Garland probable cause before the Department of Justice would get its act together and pursue criminal charges against the former president?"
"All of these missteps and mishandling of this conduct has resulted in, you know, what we all now, I think, have come to accept, which is this effort may be too little and too late," Fanone added.
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"The American people will not see a criminal trial in which this conduct is laid to bear for all Americans, so that we can fully appreciate and understand and make a decision come November in the election."
Multiple witnesses have testified that Trump ignored family members and advisers who implored him to call off the Capitol rioters, and he has more recently celebrated them on the campaign trail and suggested he would pardon them if re-elected.
"I think you know me well enough that you can only imagine what my reaction is," Fanone said. "Listen, Donald Trump is sick, he is a sick individual, and the idea that he would align himself with criminals who attacked and assaulted law enforcement officers who were only there doing their job, it's sick. Anybody who would support that is equally demented."
Watch the video below or at this link.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
