- Michael Fanone told Congress on Tuesday that Trump supporters had beaten and nearly killed him.
- He told CNN that he got a threatening and slur-filled voicemail message during his testimony.
- CNN played the voicemail on air. The caller said he wished Fanone had been killed in the riot.
A police officer in Washington, DC, received an explicit and threatening voicemail from a supporter of former President Donald Trump as he testified before Congress’ January 6 commission.
In his testimony on Tuesday, Michael Fanone said Capitol rioters had beaten him unconscious and nearly killed him, Insider’s Eliza Relman reported.
Later, in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Fanone played a voicemail that he said someone had left while he was testifying.
It contained racist language and homophobic slurs and accused Fanone of acting. It repeated Trump’s false claims that the presidential election was stolen, and it threatened violence against Fanone and other officers.
The 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 go for here? You’re so full of shit, you little faggot fucker. You’re a little pussy, man. I could slap you up the side of your head with a backhand and knock you out, you little faggot.
“You’re a punk faggot. You’re a lying fuck. How about all that scummy Black fucking scum for two years destroying our cities and burning ’em and stealing all that shit out of the stores and everything? How about that? Assaulting cops and killing people? How about that, you fucker?
“That was shit on the goddamn Capitol. I wish they would have killed all you scumbags, ’cause you people are scum. They stole the election from Trump and you know that, you scumbag. And fucking too bad they didn’t beat the shit out of you more. You’re a piece of shit. You’re a little fag. You fucking scumbag.”
The voicemail message is embedded below. (Warning: The language is not censored.)
—Don Lemon Tonight (@DonLemonTonight) July 28, 2021
Lemon said Fanone had asked not to censor the 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 type of response,” Fanone replied.
“It’s not the first time that people have expressed similar opinions to me,” he said, adding, “There is an element in this country that believes that.”
