Washington, D.C., police officer Fanone asks McCarthy to publicly denounce Republican downplaying of Jan. 6
WASHINGTON (AP) — A police officer who was injured in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection confronted House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in a meeting on Friday, asking him to publicly denounce statements by GOP members who have voted against honoring police and downplayed the violence of the attack.
Officer Michael Fanone has said for weeks that he wanted to meet with McCarthy, who has opposed the formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack and has remained loyal to former President Donald Trump. It was a violent mob of Trump’s supporters that laid siege to the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory after Trump told them to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat.
Fanone said after the meeting that he had asked McCarthy to denounce 21 House Republicans who recently voted against giving police officers a congressional medal of honor for defending the Capitol and also Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, who had compared video of the rioters to a “tourist visit.”
Don’t miss: Liz Cheney says ‘no question’ Jan. 6 riot could happen again
Also see: Democrats decry ‘revisionist history’ as Republicans downplay Capitol riot at hearing
He said McCarthy told him he would “address it in a personal level with some of those members,” a response Fanone said wasn’t satisfactory.
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
Fanone said it was important to hear public denouncements from the House’s top Republican. Of McCarthy’s more modest promise, he said, “that’s not what I want to hear.”
“ Dunn, a Capitol Police officer, has described becoming engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Capitol intruders while being assaulted with racial slurs. ”
McCarthy and Fanone, a member of the Metropolitan Police force, were joined by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who was also among the officers who responded to the rioting. Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was also expected to be involved in the meeting but did not speak to reporters afterward. Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after engaging with the mob, but a medical examiner later ruled that he died of natural causes.
From the archives (May 2021): Capitol Police officer Sicknick’s mother meets with senators as Republicans are set to block Jan. 6 commission
The meeting came as many Republicans have made clear that they want to move on from the Jan. 6 attack — frustrating law-enforcement officers who were brutally beaten by the rioters as they pushed past them and broke into the building. Senate Republicans have blocked an independent, bipartisan investigation of the attack, and some House members are increasingly downplaying the insurrection. Fanone said he found Clyde’s comments “disgusting.”
Senate Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told a radio-show host that he was not troubled during the Jan. 6 riot, owing to the characteristics of those breaching the Capitol complex and seeking to disrupt the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win over Trump. Had the intruders been Black Lives Matter adherents, Johnson said, he would have felt differently.
Dunn said afterward that the meeting on Friday was an “emotional” one. He declined to go into detail and thanked McCarthy for his time.
“He was receptive, and I think, ultimately, we have the same goal. It’s just going to take a little time getting there, I guess,” Dunn said.
The goal, Dunn said, is “accountability, justice for everybody that was involved.”
As the officers and family members push for answers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she is creating a special committee to investigate the attack. She said a partisan-led probe was the only option left after Senate Republicans blocked the planned bipartisan commission, whose composition and parameters had been negotiated chiefly by House Democrat Bennie Thompson with Republican colleague John Katko, assigned that role by McCarthy himself.
McCarthy went on to vote against that commission, though 35 Republicans broke with the minority leader to support it in the House vote.
Fanone, Dunn and Gladys Sicknick all aggressively lobbied for the independent panel — which would be modeled after a similar panel that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — and visited the offices of several Republican senators before the vote last month. Seven Republican senators voted with Democrats to consider the legislation that would form the bipartisan panel, but it still fell short of the 60 votes required under the filibuster rule to move forward.
Fanone was one of many Metropolitan Police officers who was called in to help deal with the increasingly chaotic scene as delays kept National Guard away. He has described being dragged down the Capitol steps by rioters who shocked him with a stun gun and beat him.
From the archives (April 2021): Detailed new Pentagon accounting of Capitol riot reflects pleas for assistance and order, Trump reluctance to act
Dunn, a Capitol Police officer, has similarly described fighting the rioters in hand-to-hand combat and becoming the target of racial slurs as he tried to hold them back.
Both officers said they discussed the select committee with McCarthy, who said earlier Friday that he couldn’t comment on it because he hadn’t talked to Pelosi.
Fanone said he asked for a commitment not to put “the wrong people” on the panel and that McCarthy said he would take it seriously.
Dunn confirmed that account, saying McCarthy “committed to us to taking it serious.”
In addition to Clyde, other Republicans have increasingly made statements defending the rioters and have spread conspiracy theories about what happened that day. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona has repeatedly insisted that a Trump supporter and QAnon conspiracy-theory adherent who was shot and killed that day while trying to break into the House chamber was “executed.” Others have suggested that the Justice Department should not be charging the insurrectionists with crimes.
From the archives (September 2020): ‘Open letter to America’ signed by 489 national-security leaders calls Trump ‘not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office’
And last week, the 21 Republicans voted against giving medals of honor to the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police to thank them for their service on Jan. 6. Dozens of those officers suffered major injuries, including chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones. McCarthy voted for the measure.
Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed, and three other Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies. In addition to Sicknick, two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed.
Fanone made clear that the last several months have taken a toll. He said he was “mentally and physically exhausted” and that he felt isolated.
“This experience is not something that I enjoy doing,” he said. “I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters. But I see this as an extension of my service on Jan. 6.”
MarketWatch contributed.
*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from MarketWatch can be found here ***
