A police officer who suffered a heart attack and brain injury during the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol shared an expletive-laden voicemail in which he was called a ‘lying f***’ and that was left as he testified at a House of Representatives committee hearing Tuesday.
It’s unclear how the man got D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone’s number.
‘They stole the election from Trump and you know that, you scumbag,’ the caller said in the voicemail. ‘Too bad they didn’t beat the s*** out of you more.’
Michael Fanone said he heard chants of ‘kill him with his own gun’ during the Jan. 6 riots
Supporters of President Donald Trump clash with Fanone, center, during the riot
Fanone, 40, told the House committee investigating the riots that he was ‘grabbed, beaten, tased, all while be called a traitor to my country.
‘I was at risk of being stripped of, and killed with, my own firearm as I heard chants of, ”kill him with his own gun.” I could still hear those words in my head today.’
The Washington Post reported that on Jan. 6, Fanone suffered a heart attack, concussion and traumatic brain injury, was dragged down the Capitol steps, beaten and tasered until he shouted that he had children, inspiring a few in the crowd to protect him and pull him back up the stairs to other officers.
Fanone shared the uncensored minute-long voicemail on CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight.
‘You’re on trial right now, lying and not,’ the message started. ‘You want an Emmy, an Oscar, what are you trying to go for here? You’re so full of s***, you little f***** f*****
‘That was s*** on the god**** Capitol, I wish they would’ve killed all you scumbags,’ the man continued.
‘This is what happens when people tell the truth in Trump’s America,’ Fanone told Lemon.
A D.C. police representative told DailyMail.com that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the voicemail.
Carly Kennedy, a public affairs specialist for the FBI, said in an email Thursday that ‘per policy, the FBI can neither confirm nor deny an existing investigation.’
The riot took place after Trump encouraged his supporters to march down to the Capitol
Fanone told the panel that his career began at the US Capitol Police after he felt compelled to serve following the 9/11 attacks.
Though he wasn’t assigned to Congress on Jan. 6, he was just one of ‘hundreds’ of police officers who lined up to volunteer to protect the Capitol.
‘Like many other officers, I could not ignore the numerous calls – numerous calls – for help coming from the Capitol complex,’ he said Tuesday.
‘I’m a plainclothes officer assigned to the first district’s crime suppression team. But for the first time in nearly a decade, I put on all my uniform.’
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois wiped away tears Tuesday as he heard law enforcement testimony about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Joining Fanone in Tuesday’s testimony were fellow DC Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, and Officer Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the Capitol Police.
The Jan. 6 riot began after President Trump, claiming the 2020 election had been stolen from him, encouraged his supporters to march to Congress where they were certifying the election results for Joe Biden.
Fanone decried the ‘indifference’ shown to his colleagues, along with the fact that ‘so many of the people I put my life at risk to defend are downplaying or outright denying what happened.’
On April 1, the Department of Justice announced that 38-year-old Daniel Rodriguez of California was indicted on multiple counts for assaulting Fanone with an ‘electroshock device,’ interfering with law enforcement and destroying government property.
Adam Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans on the House committee, said that he knows Fanone ‘well’ and that the former officer is a Republican.
‘To have people call him the names they did, tell him they wish he’s dead, it’s unfortunately par for the course for some people,’ Kinzinger told a TMZ reporter Wednesday. ‘But it’s important for it to be out there for people to see the kind of vitriol that exists simply for somebody telling the truth and defending freedom.’