Michael Fanone, a D.C. Metropolitan police officer, received a threatening, expletive-laced voice message on Tuesday while he was testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“You’re a little (expletive) man,” the caller says, according to audio of the message Fanone shared with CNN’s Don Lemon. “I could slap you up the side of your head with a backhand and knock you out, you little (expletive).”
Fanone — who was beaten unconscious and suffered a heart attack as he tried to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6 — was one of four police officers who testified before the House select committee charged with probing the violent assault by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The mob tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election as president.
In his testimony, Fanone recounted a harrowing encounter with the rioters who wanted to kill him with his own weapon.
“As I was swarmed by a violent mob, they ripped off my badge, they grabbed and stripped me of my radio, they seized a munition that was secured to my body. They began to beat me with their fists and what felt like hard metal objects,” Fanone told lawmakers.
He was later rushed to the hospital, where doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack, a concussion and traumatic brain injury.
In the voicemail, the caller said he wished Fanone had died.
“I wish they would have killed all you scumbags, ’cause you people are scum,” said the caller, who also used homophobic, racist and sexist slurs. “And (expletive) too bad they didn’t beat the (expletive) out of you more.”
“You want an Emmy? An Oscar? What are you trying to go for here?” the caller says.
Takeaways from the Jan. 6 hearing: Police accounts of Capitol attack made for an emotional day
The caller repeated the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.
“This is what happens to people that tell the truth in Trump’s America,” Fanone told CNN’s Lemon.
“Unfortunately, I’ve come to expect this type of response. But it’s not the first time that people have expressed similar opinions to me,” he said.
‘This is how I’m going to die’: At Jan. 6 hearing, officers tell of harrowing attacks
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During Tuesday’s House hearing, Fanone expressed disgust with Republican lawmakers who have downplayed the Capitol attack.
“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,” Fanone said. Pounding his fist on the table, he said elected officials who “continue to deny the events of that day … betray their oath of office.”
