A DC police officer attacked during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was heckled by protesters after Thursday's Jan 6. Committee hearing
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
- A former DC cop who was attacked on January 6 was heckled by protestors after Thursday's hearing.
- Protestors asked Michael Fanone why he was at the Capitol on January 6 if he was not on duty that day.
- "Are you a real police officer?" one woman asked Fanone. "Are you disappointed that you're going to make men face years in jail because of your lies?"
Former Washington, DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone — who was attacked during the Capitol riots — was heckled by protesters on the street after Thursday's January 6 Committee hearing.
"Why were you there January 6? You were not even on duty," one protester can be heard asking Fanone in a video posted to Twitter by ABC News Investigative Reporter Will Steakin.
The video appeared to show a group of protestors following Fanone in Washington, DC and videotaping him while they asked him questions. Fanone ignored all of their advances.
"Are you a real police officer?" the same woman asked Fanone. "Are you disappointed that you're going to make men face years in jail because of your lies?"
The video then appeared to show a counter-protestor stepping in front of Fanone to block him from the hecklers. The man can be seen hitting one of the protestors with his sign.
—Will Steakin (@wsteaks) July 22, 2022
Also on Thursday, Fanone responded to a video shown during the committee hearing of Sen. Josh Hawley fleeing the Capitol during the insurrection by calling him a "coward" and a "bitch."
In the clip, Hawley is seen running away as rioters poured into the Capitol building.
"I thought he ran like a coward," Fanone told CNN's Don Lemon on Thursday. "Like many people in Trump world, he performs when he's in front of a camera, and he acts very differently when he is not."
When interviewed by Politico on Thursday, Fanone said the first thought that popped into his mind when seeing the Hawley video was, "Josh Hawley is a bitch. And he ran like a bitch."
"The fist pump, combined with what he did in the immediate aftermath just shows the true character or lack thereof," he added, before saying there was an "eruption" of laughter in the room after the Committee played the clip of Hawley.
"Listen, obviously, I see the amusement of it, and I'm not going to fault people for finding it humorous, but that pisses me off. That guy's a clown," Fanone told Politico.
—JC (@JCWhittington_) July 22, 2022