Injured Jan. 6 Cop Backs Fetterman in Pennsylvania (Newsmax)
By Charles Kim | Monday, 07 November 2022 07:29 PM EST
Former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was injured during the Jan. 6 protest and riot at the U.S. Capitol, backed Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman against GOP challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz in the race for Senate.
“Mehmet Oz is no ordinary Republican,” Fanone said in a video ad posted on Fetterman’s Twitter account Monday. “He has aligned himself with [former President] Donald Trump, the first president in U.S. history to send his supporters to attack their fellow Americans — police officers — in an attempt to subvert democracy.”
Fanone, who spent 20 years working for the D.C. Metropolitan Police, and is now a law enforcement analyst for CNN, said that Trump plans on pardoning those convicted in the riot, including those who “attacked police officers” should he return to office and that Oz is helping him spread lies about the 2020 race.
“Oz has filled his campaign with election deniers and even participants in the Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol,” Fanone said. “Oz is not the independent voice he claims to be. He is a mouthpiece for Donald Trump, and his hate-filled, violent rhetoric.”
Oz and Fetterman are locked in a tight battle in the Keystone State that could determine which party controls the Senate.
Fanone testified before the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, describing being assaulted by Tennessee resident Albuquerque Head, 43, during the riot, and suffering a heart attack later, The Hill reported when Head was sentenced last month to 7.5 years in prison for his guilty plea in the case, The Hill reported.
“The assault irrevocably changed my life,” Fanone wrote in a CNN opinion piece later. “I suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and I still struggle with PTSD nearly every day.”
Fanone has also weighed in on the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying that political violence has become “normalized,” according to a report last week in The Hill.
“The 82-year-old husband of the woman who is third in line to the US presidency was beaten in his own home for political reasons and right-wing media and some Republicans reveled in the attack,” Fanone wrote. “I’d like to believe that the violent attack on Paul Pelosi will be a turning point, but somehow, I doubt it. I’m afraid that politically inspired violence is only going to escalate. It’s already normalized.”