As Republican Rep. Troy Nehls tried to position blame for the January 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Police officers and never on President Donald Trump, former Washington, DC, police officer Michael Fanone — who was severely beaten by protestors that day — interrupted with a cough and a fast message.
The incident occurred during a Thursday listening to the place Jack Smith, the previous particular prosecutor who led two failed prosecutions towards Trump, publicly testified earlier than the House Judiciary Committee.
“I can tell you gentlemen, that the fault does not lie with Donald Trump,” Nehls, of Texas, stated, addressing a number of regulation enforcement officers attending the listening to who responded to the riot that day.
Nehls stated the fault of the assault lies with “the US Capitol leadership team.”
(*6*)
“We know they had the intelligence,” Nehls stated earlier than Fanone, after a loud cough, interrupted.
“F**k yourself,” Fanone, who was dragged out and beaten in a crowd of rioters during one of the crucial violent clashes that day, stated loudly.
Nehls concluded: “There was going to be a high propensity for violence that day.”
Fanone sat within the viewers during the listening to with three different officers deployed on the Capitol that day, Aquilino Gonell, Harry Dunn, and Daniel Hodges, every of whom have turn into Trump critics because the revolt.
Smith, in his first public look earlier than lawmakers, stated he was “shocked” when he noticed the assault on the Capitol.
He warned that there are potentially “catastrophic” ongoing threats to US democracy due to the failure to carry Trump accountable for his “criminal” makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
“If we don’t hold people to account when they commit crimes, that it sends a message that those crimes are okay, that our society accepts that … it can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers, and ultimately our democracy,” Smith stated.