MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart wiped away tears Saturday as he thanked Michael Fanone, the former D.C. metro police officer who was beaten unconscious while fending off the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Saturday Show interview marked the third anniversary of the riot.
“I’m going to try to get through this,” Capehart said shakily. “Thank you. Thank you for what you did three years ago today.”
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Capehart recalled that even before he met Fanone he’d received a letter of thanks after he wrote an editorial in the Washington Post to honor Fanone. Fanone said he had framed the article, which served as a rare bright spot in an onslaught of criticism.
“I was dealing with a lot of criticism, both external criticism from people I’d never met before in this country, who had absolutely no idea what my experience and the experience of hundreds of law enforcement officers really was,” Fanone said.
“And so having somebody like yourself, write something in a major publication that I believe, you know, here was someone who understood my motivations for putting myself out there that way,” he continued. “It meant a lot.”
Fanone spoke out against former President Donald Trump and others who have sought to play down what happened that day, arguing that the riot deserves renewed attention heading into the 2024 election.
“We are still in the midst of the same fight that began on January 6, 2021, and we have a lot at stake in this country and I think that it deserves every American’s attention,” he said.
He also spoke out against the rise in support within the Republican Party for those who stormed the Capitol and attempts by some to rewrite history.
“We had the benefit of a bipartisan January 6 Select Committee investigation, which really rolled out the evidence supporting the fact that it … was pre-planned by Donald Trump and members of his administration,” he said.
“If they can’t see the facts for what they are, then they have aligned themselves and become part of the MAGA insurrectionist Republican Party,” he continued.
Many of those who attacked Fanone during the riot are now facing years behind bars. Thomas Sibick, who grabbed Fanone’s radio and badge from him during the attack, was sentenced to 50 months in prison last year.
Another rioter who grabbed Fanone from a police line and threw him into the crowd that beat and tased him was sentenced to 90 months behind bars. “Their actions that day were violent, and that violence, excuse me, was directed towards law enforcement officers,” Fanone said.
Trump has said the imprisonment of those who were a part of the riot at the Capitol will “go down as one of the saddest things in the history of our country.”
“I think it’s clear that they deserved the sentences that they received, but by Donald Trump, referring to them as hostages, and speaking about them sympathetically, he’s lending his authority as the former president to their actions,” Fanone said. “I think… many voters in this country become disillusioned and don't see the significance of the 2024 election.”
