Newly released footage of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol shows the seething mob of pro-Donald Trump insurrectionists descend on a police officer, then beat him with a flagpole and attack him with a stun gun.
The footage from the bodycam of D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, obtained by CNN, left anchor Don Lemon in tears:
The mob assaulted the Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of the 2020 election and keep the losing candidate, then-President Donald Trump, in office.
About 140 officers, some from the U.S. Capitol Police and others from the Metropolitan Police Department, were injured by the mob, which was egged on by Trump.
However, Republicans have tried to downplay the attack.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), a white nationalist sympathizer whose own family blames him for inciting the riot, on Wednesday called the attackers “peaceful patriots” who were being “harassed.”
Another, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), claimed “there was no insurrection.”
And Trump in March falsely claimed the mob was “hugging and kissing” the police.
Fanone said last month that’s not the experience he had.
“I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish their goal,” he told CNN. “I experienced the most brutal, savage, hand-to-hand combat of my entire life, let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades.”
The footage does show some in the crowd trying to help Fanone.
He shared his thoughts on that in January.
“A lot of people have asked me my thoughts on the individuals in the crowd that ... tried to offer some assistance,” Fanone told CNN. “And I think the conclusion I’ve come to is, ‘Thank you ― but fuck you for being there.’”