- michael fanone told congress Tuesday that trump supporters beat him up and nearly killed him.
- he told cnn he received a threatening and slanderous voicemail during his testimony.
- cnn played the voice message on air. the caller said he wished fanone had died in the riot.
A police officer in Washington, DC, received an explicit and threatening voice message from a supporter of former President Donald Trump while testifying before the Congressional Committee on January 6.
In his testimony Tuesday, Michael Fanone said capitol rioters beat him unconscious and nearly killed him, Insider’s Eliza Relman reported.
later, in an interview with cnn’s don lemon, fanone played a voicemail saying someone had left while testifying.
contained racist language and homophobic slurs and accused fanone of acting. repeated trump’s false claims that the presidential election was stolen and threatened violence against fanone and other officials.
Caller said:
“yeah this is for michael fanone, metropolitan police officer. you’re on trial right now, lying. you want an emmy? an oscar? what are you trying to do here? you’re so full of shit, you little fagot You son of a bitch. You’re a little fag, man. I could slap you on the side of the head with a backhand and knock you out, you little fag.
“you’re a punk fagot. you’re a fucking liar. how about all that black scum for two years destroying our cities and burning them down and stealing all that shit from stores and all? how about that? Assaulting policemen and killing people? What do you think, son of a bitch?
“that was bullshit on the fucking capitol. i wish they would have killed all of you scumbags, because you are scumbags. you stole the election from trump and you know it scumbags. and it’s a shame they did” . I won’t hit you anymore. you’re a piece of shit. you are a little fagot. damn bastard.”
The voicemail message is embedded below. (warning: language is not censored).
lemon said that fanone had asked not to censor voicemail.
he asked fanone: “what do you say to that? what do you want people to know? and that idiot?”
“I mean, unfortunately I’ve come to expect this kind of response,” fanone responded.
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“It’s not the first time people have expressed similar views to me,” he said, adding, “There’s an element in this country that believes that.”