Officer Michael Fanone Condemns MAGA Extremism on Morning Joe Ahead of January 6th Anniversary

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Courage for America Council Member and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning to commemorate the third anniversary of the January 6th attack and warn against MAGA extremism. Below is a transcript of the interview:

*TRANSCRIPT*

Willie Geist: So Officer Fanone, you know, it’s obviously been shocking to a lot of us, to a lot of Americans who agree, the vast majority we should point out, agreed January 6 was a terrible day. We believe what we saw with our eyes that day, either in person for many people or on television, but also this narrative that’s taken hold in certain quarters among Trump supporters in particular that it actually wasn’t what we saw that day.

That’s the one side of it. The other side of it is you’ve had more than 1200 people arrested, the head of the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers going to jail for a very long time. More convictions to come. Prosecutors say they’re only about halfway done with the people they want to find. So how do you feel three years on after January 6, 2021?

Officer Michael Fanone: I mean, when you mentioned all those investigations, the Department of Justice undertaking and, you know, prosecuting more than 1200 Americans for their actions on January 6. States now starting to debate and make an effort to remove Donald Trump from the ballot, all of those things I think are a good start and necessary.

I don’t want to put too much stock into any one institution. I think it’s an all hands on deck effort to make sure that Donald Trump doesn’t assume the presidency in 2024. We all know what that’s gonna look like, he’s told us as much. But I’ve also got to point out some of the disappointments that I’ve had over the past three years. And that’s where’s the outrage on behalf of the current administration?

You know, I give credit, Joe Biden has given some fiery speeches with regards to MAGA and its effort to overturn a free and fair election. But that’s something that this country needs to hear every single day, specifically younger people, young voters. When I go out and talk to them, they seem completely disillusioned with the political process.

And I think a lot of the problems that President Biden is dealing with now, the image problems, stem from being too soft. I feel like Biden can be outraged, he can express anger without coming across as unhinged, like Donald Trump. And I would like to see him fight for our democracy with the same tenacity that Donald Trump fights to destroy it.

—

Mika Brzezinski: Michael Fanone, your take on former President Trump calling these criminals, convicted criminals, hostages?

Fanone: It makes perfect sense to me. You know the individuals that stormed the Capitol on January 6 attacked law enforcement in an effort to stop the certification of the election. Those people, that’s Donald Trump’s core group of supporters.

I don’t know whether or not he actually believes that they’re hostages or even that, you know, he cares for them outside of the fact that he knows they’ll vote for him if he says things like that. It just comes back to the fact that their support for Donald Trump is based on lies, and so Donald Trump has to continue to perpetuate those lies in order to maintain that level of support.

—

Brzezinski: Former DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone and former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, thank you both very much for coming on the show this morning and thank you for your service.

To view the full interview, click HERE.

###