Capitol riots: Officer attacked by mob describes ‘medieval battle scene’ ahead of final hearing
A police officer on duty during the January 6 assault on the US Capitol building has described it as a “medieval battle scene” in which he was beaten and tasered before suffering a heart attack.
Michael Fanone told Sky News he thought he would die after becoming detached from his colleagues and being “struck from every direction”.
The former officer says the January 6th hearings, the last of which will take place today, are important in terms of getting to the root cause of the violence and establishing whether there was co-ordination by former president Donald Trump.
The committee has collected a staggering trove of material relating to the January 6th riots, including transcripts of more than 1,000 interviews and millions of other documents. The final report is expected in December.
Recalling the events of that day in 2021, Mr Fanone says he headed for the Capitol building with his partner, Jimmy Albright, after hearing distress calls from police officers already at the scene.
He told Sky News: “We made our way to the lower west terrace, the area where the president-elect walks out of the Capitol on to the inaugural stage to take the oath of office.
“The pinnacle of the fighting that day was at that location, where about 40 or 50 DC police officers and several US Capitol police officers were trying to prevent thousands of angry insurrectionists from entering the Capitol complex.
“It was only about as wide as maybe four or five officers standing abreast, probably about 200-250 feet long, and these officers were fighting for their lives.
Former police officer Michael Fanone spoke to Sky News about being attacked at the riot
“When I got there, (police officers) had been fighting for about 90 minutes. I saw my colleagues were fatigued and injured and I felt like, since I had just got there, I was still fresh and I was going to make my way to the front.
“We had chemical agitants being used against us, CS gas, bear spray, as well as a number of different types of weapons – everything from aluminium baseball bats, metal poles, scaffolding, riot shields and other police weapons that had been taken from officers. There were also firearms present.
“There was a lot of screaming and yelling. It was really just body against body, officers pressing against the rioters trying to push them, or force them, back out of the tunnel entrance.
“If you imagine a rugby scrum – it was officers standing shoulder to shoulder, these rioters were pressing up against us, it was like a medieval battle scene. You could not slide a credit card between two people.
“The only equipment I had with me, other than my duty belt, my service weapon, was a helmet and a riot shield that covers your face.
“I was pulled away from the police line to the crowd, where I was beaten and struck with a Taser device at the base of my skull. That’s excruciatingly painful, especially when it’s done repeatedly in short succession. As a result, I suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury.”
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US congresswoman Liz Cheney during a hearing of the January 6 committee
Mr Fanone continued: “Once I was out in the crowd, I remember being struck from every direction with fists and metal objects. I do remember, at one point, yelling out that I had kids, trying to appeal to the humanity of some of the individuals in the crowd, and at that time I was being shot with a Taser device.
“The only thing I was thinking about was how to survive the situation. I thought about using deadly force (weapon) but I quickly came to the conclusion that would most likely not result in my survival. There were thousands of rioters and there’s specific police protocol that dictates how we can use deadly force.
“While I may have been authorised to use deadly force against some of those individuals, there was a likelihood that some people would be injured, and possibly killed, who I did not intend to use force against. I was also concerned about having my gun stripped away from me.
“I opted to try to appeal to peoples’ humanity, use some psychological warfare, and said ‘I have kids’. Some of the rioters did offer me assistance.
“There were other rioters that were fighting with them over the ability to get to me, to continue to assault me, so it was a strange dynamic for a few minutes until I was able to be rescued by my colleagues.”
A clip of Donald Trump is shown during one of the hearings
Mr Fanone, 42, says he thought his life was in danger as soon as he saw the situation that had developed at the Capitol.
He said: “I thought that, when I first walked into the tunnel, that there was a strong likelihood that this situation was much more dangerous than I had realised going into it and that there was a strong potential that I’d lose my life.”
The former police officer, now a law enforcement analyst, has given his testimony to the House committee set up to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Ahead of its final hearing, Mr Fanone – who has written a book entitled “Hold the Line”, said: “The hearings are important because we need an investigation, not just into the criminality committed, but it’s important to get to the root causes of January 6th.
“Was there any co-ordination with elected members of our government, with members of the Trump administration or with the former president himself?
“I don’t know if you can change everyone’s hearts and minds about the reality of that day and who was responsible for it, but what you can do is ensure that people who broke the law are punished accordingly.
“That’s why our Republic is based on the rule of law – it’s the great equaliser.”
US
Pam Bondi: Key proponent of Trump’s false 2020 election claims set to head justice department after Gaetz withdrawal
Donald Trump has pledged for years to surround himself with ultra-loyalists who can mould his government to his vision without barriers.
That’s precisely why he picked Matt Gaetz. Now he’s out, Pam Bondi is in and she’s equally loyal.
Gaetz was uniquely unpopular on Capitol Hill but ultra-MAGA and ultra-loyal to the president-elect.
He was chosen by the president-elect to do his bidding inside the Justice Department as attorney general.
Critics called his pick “a red alert moment for democracy” and the man a “gonzo agent of chaos” – language that would surely only affirm Trump’s decision in his own proudly disruptive mind.
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn despite Trump putting him forward for attorney general. Pic: AP
If it wasn’t for the fact that the president-elect is himself a convicted felon, and a man found liable in a civil court of his own sexual offences, the prospect of Gaetz, with all his baggage, making it through the nomination process would have seemed remote.
But Donald Trump’s return to the White House suggested anything is possible.
And so, beyond his loyalty, Gaetz was Trump’s test for his foot soldiers on Capitol Hill. How loyal were they? Would they wave through anyone he appointed?
It turns out that Gaetz, and the storm around his private life, was too much for a proportion of them.
At least five Senate Republicans were flatly against Matt Gaetz’s confirmation. We understand that they communicated to other senators and those close to Trump that they were unlikely to be swayed.
They included the Republican old guard like Senator Mitch McConnell.
Beyond the hard “no” senators, there were between 20 and 30 other Republicans who were very uncomfortable about having to vote for Gaetz on the Senate floor.
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The key question is whether Gaetz was Trump’s intentional wild card crazy choice that he knew, deep down, would probably never fly.
Was Gaetz the candidate he had accepted would be vetoed by senators – who would then feel compelled to wave the rest of his nominees through?
Will Pete Hegseth’s alleged sexual impropriety concern them as they consider the suitability of the former Fox News host and army major to run the Department of Defence?
What about Tulsi Gabbard, the candidate Russian state TV calls ‘our girl’, and the appropriateness of her running America’s intelligence agencies?
These are all appointments that the politicians on Capitol Hill must consider and confirm in the weeks ahead.
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We don’t yet know who Trump will choose to direct the FBI.
There are some names being floated which will make the establishment of Washington shudder but then that’s precisely why Trump was elected. He is the disrupter. He said so at every rally, on repeat.
He was quick to pivot to another name to replace Gaetz.
Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida. Professionally she is in a different league to Gaetz. She’s been a tough prosecutor, with a no-nonsense reputation.
She is also among the most loyal of loyalists. Her attachment to Trump stretches way back.
Pam Bondi speaks during a Trump rally in November 2024. Pic: Reuters
I first came across her in Philadelphia in November 2020 when she was among Trump surrogates claiming the election back then had been stolen from them by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
She was a key proponent of the false claims the election had been rigged and Trump was the rightful winner.
The court cases concluding that was all nonsense didn’t seem to convince her.
Now she is poised to head up the Department of Justice as the country’s top law enforcement official.
US
Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change ‘like nothing you’ve seen in history’, warns campaign official
Within hours of taking office, president-elect Donald Trump plans to begin rolling out policies including large-scale deportations, according to his transition team.
Sky News partner network NBC News has spoken with more than half a dozen people familiar with the executive orders that his team plans to enact.
One campaign official said changes are expected at a pace that is “like nothing you’ve seen in history”, to signal a dramatic break from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump is preparing on day one to overturn specific policies put in place by Mr Biden. Among the measures, reported by sources close to the transition team, are:
• The speedy and large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants
• Ending travel reimbursement for military members seeking abortion care
• Restricting transgender service members’ access to gender-affirming care
But much of the first day is likely to focus on stopping illegal immigration – the centrepiece of Trump’s candidacy. He is expected to sign up to five executive orders aimed at dealing with that issue alone after he is sworn in on 20 January.
“There will without question be a lot of movement quickly, likely day one, on the immigration front,” a top Trump ally said.
“There will be a push to make a huge early show and assert himself to show his campaign promises were not hollow.”
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Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
But Mr Trump’s campaign pledges also could be difficult to implement.
Deporting people on the scale he wants will be a logistical challenge that could take years. Questions also remain about promised tax cuts.
Meanwhile, his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours would be near impossible.
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Even so, advisers based at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or at nearby offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly strategising about ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Following his decisive victory on 5 November, the president-elect has moved swiftly to build a cabinet and senior White House team.
As of Thursday, he had selected more than 30 people for senior positions in his administration, compared with just three at a similar point in his 2016 transition.
Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser in Mr Trump’s campaign, told NBC News: “The thing to realise is Trump is no dummy.
“He knows he’s got two to three years at most to get anything done. And then he becomes a lame duck and we start talking about [the presidential election in] 2028.”
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