Cop who survived Capitol riot injuries condemns Trump’s pardons: ‘I feel betrayed’
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The brother of another Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died shortly after the January 6th attack, said he felt his brother ‘died in vain’ defending the Capitol. Donald Trump's blanket pardon of Capitol riot convicts — and his decision to commute the sentences of convicted right-wing gang members from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, some of whom were charged with seditious conspiracy — has been met with shock and frustration from those most affected by the 2021 attack.
Brian Fanone, a former DC Metropolitan police officer who was injured during the Capitol riot and later testified about his experience to the House Select Committee investigating the attack — said he felt “betrayed” by his country following the pardons.
He was frustrated at the notion that the men who attacked him and his colleagues were allowed to escape punishment. “Tonight, six individuals who assaulted me, as I did my job on January 6, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free," he said.
Fanone indicated that the Republican Party's support for law enforcement was a farce. “I think that Republican Party owns a monopoly on hypocrisy when it comes to supporting or their supposed support of law enforcement, because, tonight, the leader of the Republican Party pardoned hundreds of violent cop assaulters,” he said.
Fanone is one of the individuals who received a preemptive pardon from now-former President Joe Biden before he left office. The pardon is intended to protect him from potential blowback from the Trump administration for speaking out at the House Select hearings.
