Video posted on social media shows Fanone, now an on-air commentator for CNN, being roughed up by protesters. A woman following Fanone is seen asking why he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and questioning his credentials as a law enforcement officer as she shows him two phone cameras. As he walks away from the worshipers, the woman and other people follow him. Then a man wearing a black hat and holding a large banner with the image of former President Donald Trump and the words “toxic loser” uses the banner to separate Fanone from the people following him. Shortly after, a man in dark shorts falls screaming. He tells nearby officers that the man with the anti-Trump banner “just hit me with his pole.” Photos taken by the Washington Post and videos on social media show the man holding the banner they were later handcuffed by law enforcement. In one video, the man identifies himself as Stephen Parlato, of Boulder, Colo. The man said he was in DC to support the hearings and that he had intervened because Fanone’s fans were “inches from his face. And [Fanone] he was trying to escape.” U.S. Capitol Police did not return multiple requests for comment late Thursday and early Friday. Earlier in the day, Fanone attended a hearing for one of his accused attackers. “I hope from the bottom of my heart that he suffers” in prison, the former officer told a federal judge. Agents protecting Pence feared ‘for their lives,’ official says As he left the hearing, Fanone lashed out at Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), using colorful language while speaking to a reporter. Hawley’s actions on the day of the riot were the focus of Thursday’s hearing. he had raised a fist in support of the crowd, which included some eventual rioters, outside the Capitol, and later video showed him running away from the would-be riot. Fanone resigned from the police force last year and spoke of his slow recovery from the physical and emotional trauma of the attack. Responded to a citywide emergency on January 6, 2021 and rushed to the Capitol to fend off pro-Trump rioters. He was knocked unconscious with fists and poles and repeatedly lit with a Taser to his neck. Daniel Rodriguez, among those accused of attacking Officer Michael Fanone in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, apologized in a video interrogation. (Video: FBI) The rioters then tried to take his gun from its holster. “Kill him with his own gun!” shouted one. Fanone, who said he voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, has been outspoken in his criticism of pro-Trump lawmakers and voters for downplaying the violence that occurred last year.
