The House Committee hearing investigating the January 6th Donald Trump-led attack on Capitol Hill began on Tuesday and quickly became an emotional recollection of the events.
Politics
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, began the House Committee hearing by playing footage of the attack prior to testimony from members of the Capitol Hill police and the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Although Thompson cautioned that it would likely be uncomfortable for officers to revisit the events of that day, he added “history will remember your names and your actions.”
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As video footage of January 6th echoed through the House Committee hearing, 2 of the officers quickly became visibly upset. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell reached for a tissue and wiped away tears while DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone consoled him.
Officer Fanone told the committee how he was “tortured” during the January 6th melee, dragged alone into the crowd, then tased and beaten with fists and metal objects. He said he feared for his life and pleaded with the mob to spare his life, telling them, “I have kids.” Despite his pleas, he said he heard the crowd chanting, “Kill him with his own gun.”
“I can still hear those words in my head today,” he added.
Fanone was eventually left unconscious among the crowd, where he suffered a mild heart attack and a brain injury. He continues to suffer mental trauma from the ordeal, as do his children, who nearly lost their father that day, he said.
During his testimony, Fanone criticized members of the GOP who have downplayed the attacks.
“What makes the struggle harder and more painful is to know so many of my fellow citizens, including so many of the people I put my life at risk to defend, are downplaying or outright denying what happened. I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn’t exist — or that hell actually wasn’t that bad.”
At one point, he slammed his fist on the desk and shouted, “The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful.”
Fanone added that he believes certain members of the government are responsible for inciting what happened at the Capitol and have continued to “propagate those statements.”
“Things like, this was 1776, or that police officers who fought, risked their lives — and some who gave theirs — were redcoats and traitors,” Fanone said. “To me, those individuals are representative of the worst that America has to offer.”
Capitol Police Private First Class Harry Dunn said during the House Committee hearing that he was assaulted and called racial slurs throughout the January 6th mob attack.
According to Dunn, a rioter discovered he’d voted for Joe Biden and corraled a crowd of about 20 people around him and began calling him a “F*cking N*gger!”
He said it was the first time anyone had totally disrespected him with a racial slur while wearing the Capitol Police uniform.
Dunn urged the committee to “get to the bottom of what happened,” and compared Donald Trump’s actions on January 6th to a murder carried out by a “hitman.”
“If a hitman is hired and he kills somebody, the hitman goes to jail,” Dunn said. “But not only does the hitman go to jail, but the person who hired them does. There was an attack carried out on January 6th, and a hitman sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that.”
Throughout their statements, each of the officers repeatedly referred to the violent mob as “terrorists.” When Rep. Jamie Raskin asked why the officers didn’t see the mob as a “group of tourists” as some members of the GOP have called them, DC Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges (who was seen in video footage trapped by the mob in a revolving door) quipped, “Well if that’s what American tourists are like, I can see why foreign countries don’t like American tourists.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were each asked what they thought of the first day of testimony during the January 6th House Committee hearing. Interestingly, they both claimed they were “too busy” to watch.
Perhaps the real truth is they were “too embarrassed” to watch!
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[Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were each asked what they thought of the first day of testimony during the January 6th House Committee hearing. Interestingly, they both claimed they were “too busy” to watch.
Perhaps the real truth is they were “too embarrassed” to watch! ]-DJ
BINGO! They choose not to watch because they CAN’T stand to watch. They are “too embarrassed.”
But mind you, it’s not just the “embarrassment.” They know the individual roles they played and the collective GUILT they share in edging on the madness and crimes of Jan. 6.