'Plenty Of Evidence' To Support Indictment Of Trump Says Michael Fanone

How are you? I mean, I'm holding on. Yes. I mean, I talked to a staff member of the Committee of Six about having them in the room and I told him how concentrated it was for all of you to see them there. the people who have protected everyone and understand at every moment what you were doing it for and he said it was just for focus, but I was wondering and I wanted to ask what was that like for you, testifying before the select committee that I bad for me, yeah , and then being there for all the public hearings, I mean, listen, testifying was like any other courtroom testimony for me, um, I mean, I think maybe I was a little more passionate in my speech, but aside of that, um.

I mean, it was just another day in court, going to the hearings, I don't know if it was necessarily the best thing for me or for my personal health, but I felt like it was an obligation that I had taken on and I wanted to show my

support

for the committee members. select few who have made great personal sacrifices to investigate what happened on January 6 and the events leading up to it. It's surreal. You know, I reproduced that testimony of yours a few years ago. times because enduring what you endured physically and psychologically in the moments of the attack feels like the first wound, the second is the refusal by the Republicans to award medals to the men and women of law enforcement who protected all those who They worked on Capitol Hill, can you take us back to the moment when you realized that this attack was not going to calm the fever but the right was not going to recognize the reality of a sex?

I think for me it was um and I forget the day exactly. but it was when Andrew Clyde, the congressman, testified that January 6 was just another Taurus day. I mean, I remember that testimony vividly and I remember the phone calls I received from dozens of other police officers who were there at the Capitol on January 6th. and how outraged they were, so that was the moment for me where I realized that this is not going to be an exit ramp for the Republicans to, you know, get rid of Donald Trump once and for all, that They're going to redouble their efforts and it's It's going to be a long and brutal fight when you hear the things that Kevin McCarthy said privately and I know you met with him privately and I know you're right about that and some of those tapes came out with the release of your book when you listen to him able to recognize the reality that you lived and we saw with our own eyes in private what you think of what he has done publicly, which is to elevate the insurrectional to intimidate Tao to Marjorie Taylor green to do nothing to Mr.

Clyde and others who are whitewashing January 6th to this day. I mean, I think it's pretty clear that Kevin McCarthy only cares about Kevin McCarthy and his own political future and sees that the best vehicle for the success of his political future is the Republican Party and his success. So he will do anything to ensure that the Republican Party gains power and so that he can eventually hold a gavel and be the speaker that you are in and I think your book reflects that you see him this way in this larger fight. about truth and lies, that the lies about January 6, at least on the right, are winning, how do we hold on to the truth?

I mean, do you see like a One Six Memorial or a museum where all the first-hand accounts and all the testimony of you and the officer are made or where the truth can live, are you worried that as we move away from it the truth will prevail? Whitening? I mean, listen, I think all of those things are appropriate, um, obviously, I've been advocating for recognition of the officers who fought on January 6th. I think those officers deserve to have a metal pin in their chest. I think there should be a monument at the Capitol representing the Metropolitan Police officers and the US Capitol Police officers who fought to defend it.

I said: I don't want anything, all I want is accountability. I want the people who broke the wall to go to prison. um, you can save your metals, your plates and all that other junk. um, I don't need it, I just want to see. people go to prison the committee on january 6 dumped a mountain of

evidence

implicating donald

trump

as a person he knew he had lost and invited insurrectionists and extremists to washington and on december 19 on twitter they caught him they caught him which Do you think it is an appropriate measure? What does accountability look like for Donald Trump?

I mean, I think the

evidence

presented by the select committee shows that Donald Trump engaged in an effort to defraud the American people and that as a result of that effort we saw the violence that followed. on January 6th um there is certainly a lot of evidence to

support

that to support an impeachment of Donald Trump uh and for him to be trampled on and I think as Americans we should accept the results of that trial. I mean, you experienced firsthand what happens when Americans don't accept what they see with their own eyes: the loss of the president they supported.

Do you think they will? There are, you know, a small number of Americans, I consider myself one of them, who are incredibly passionate about what happened and see the urgency of the threat to our democracy and in the same way, I think there are equally many Americans who believe that January The 6th was, you know, another 1776 moment in American history and they support those who attack the capital on that day and they include the former president. I think these two factions in America are at war and the rest of the Americans just don't care. They are more concerned about their personal lives, they don't see that what happened that day affects them directly.

They're more worried about, you know, how much they have to pay at the pump or how much groceries cost. You know, I worked in politics and I learned not to blame the voters but to blame the people who argue in front of the voters, but I agree with your assessment, how do you make them care? I mean, political violence came to Speaker Pelosi's house, her husband was brutally attacked and and you know you had surgery on your skull to repair a skull fracture, your physical injuries are horrific and all you did was work a sex job and Rushing to defend your peers, your brothers and sisters in law enforcement, I mean, how do you do that?

People see what's really happening, what you just described. I don't think you can make people care about January 6th. You know, it's almost 19 months away. You know, I leaked my body camera footage to the media. People were able to see the brutality of what happened to me and understand what the experience was like for so many other police officers. It wasn't just me that day, there were hundreds of us and we were all brutally beaten by over 140 police officers. they were hurt that being said, I mean, I've been here talking for almost two years and it hasn't made much difference, you know, we're approaching the midterm elections and I think I've seen You know, both sides move away from the insurrection. on January 6 because they don't see it as a path to power and that in itself is, I mean, disappointing, to say the least.

I think that's the only thing we can do. What we can do is hold accountable those who were criminally responsible that day. You just testified at a trial for Mr. Head. committed on one of our nation's darkest days, she pointed out every opportunity she had had to retreat from the battle against the police, but instead she rearmed herself with the police shield and returned to the front lines. Jackson described what are known as game heads and his trophy. She also described the acquaintance as someone who is protecting the United States during the riots. I just read it because he's in black and white in front of all of us and to say it, the people who think they were there on the orders of their leader Donald Trump, um.

They have been charged or sentenced as Mr. Head was. Does he have any optimism that the prosecutions will deter future insurrections or does he believe this will become the new normal in American elections that don't go the right way in the first place? I would say it is the New Normal, it is not becoming the New Normal, it has been normal for quite some time, I think it is deterring those who are going to prison from participating in an event like that because they will be in prison, but This is different from what I would describe as more traditional crimes, it's not narcotics trafficking, it's not, you know, theft, these are politically motivated crimes and there is no shortage of Americans who are susceptible to this type of manipulation, especially when people like Donald Trump. uh and his allies continue to tell the same lies and violent rhetoric