“In His Mind Elections are Honest If He Wins Them. And They are Dishonest or Rigged if He Loses”: Officer Michael Fanone Denounces Trump’s Authoritarian 2024 Plan and Refusal to Commit to a Peaceful Election Certification
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, Courage for America Councilmember and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone spoke with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show to discuss the danger and gravity of Trump’s 2024 plan if he does not win the 2024 presidential election as well as Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful certification of the election results. Below is a transcript of the interview:
****TRANSCRIPT****
Transcript copy edited for clarity*
Jonathan Capehart: Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon January 6th insurrectionists. That could potentially include the man who attacked you with a stun gun. What do you think of that possibility?
Officer Michael Fanone: I think it is sickening. I mean the idea that a president or presidential candidate in the United States of America would align himself with individuals who assaulted police officers, who were simply doing their job like myself on January 6th, 2021 at the United States Capitol.
Capehart: Michael, some are still downplaying what happened on January 6th, including Republicans who were there. Listen to what Senator JD Vance said on CNN on Wednesday.
B-roll of Senator JD Vance on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Senator JD Vance: I am extremely skeptical that Mike Pence’s life was ever in danger. I think politics and politics people like to really exaggerate things from time to time.
Kaitlan Collins: I think Mike Pence would disagree with that, Senator.
Vance: A lot of folks in the Democratic Party, Kaitlan, act like January 6th was the scariest moment of their lives. Look, January 6th was a bad day. It was a riot. But the idea that Donald Trump endangered anyone’s lives when he told them to protest peacefully, it’s just absurd.
End of B-roll
Capehart: Officer Fanone, why are he and others continuously trying to rewrite the history of that day?
Fanone: Because it doesn’t serve their own interests and the interests of their political party, the Republican party. I mean, listen, I understand how inconvenient it is for people like JD Vance and other Republicans to admit that it was their leader, former president Donald Trump who inspired and incited an insurrection on January 6th at the United States Capitol, in an attempt to subvert democracy and hold on to power. With that being said, that is the reality. This is not a policy debate. This is a debate as to the reality of a day inspired by a Republican leader, carried out by his supporters in an act of extreme violence, brutal violence against police officers.
Capehart: Officer Fanone, when asked in that TIME Magazine interview about the prospect of political violence regarding the outcome of November’s election, Trump said, and I am quoting, “it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.” Is that an invitation to his supporters to carry out another January 6th, do you think?
Fanone: Absolutely. Everything in that article was exactly what I have come to expect from the former president. His statements are in his own self-interest and not what is best for this country. And they are sick. You know, the idea that he would refuse to commit to the peaceful transfer of power, one of the most basic fundamental principles of any United States politician in adhering to the U.S. Constitution. And he refuses to do that. We all know why. In his mind elections are honest if he wins them. And they are dishonest or rigged if he loses. 60+ courts in the previous election told us that this was an honest and fair election and that Donald Trump lost, and Joe Biden is our president.
To view the full interview, click HERE.
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