On January 6, 2021, there were about 800 police officers trying to hold back more than 10,000 rioters. I was one of those officers.
At one point I was dragged into the crowd, beaten, and tased. On that day about 140 officers were injured. Rioters broke into the Capitol building, many intent on not only stopping the certification of the election, but harming our public servants. That day, our job was to protect the people inside that building, Republicans and Democrats alike from a mob roaming the halls.
These rioters stood for everything that the United States does not. They showed no respect for our Constitution. No respect for our government. No respect for our democracy.
And yet on the day of his second inauguration, Donald Trump pardoned all of them, and Republicans supported him. Just like that, roughly 1,600 dangerous criminals were back on the street, and many have already re-offended.
Now many of those Republican officials who stood alongside Trump and the rioters are on your ballots. There’s Andy Biggs, running for governor of Arizona, who was a staunch supporter of pardoning the rioters.
In 2020, when some racial justice protests turned violent, Biggs said rioters, “do not, however, have the right to attack other people, steal, or destroy property.” He didn’t apply those same standards to the people who attacked us on January 6.
Lauren Boebert is running for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, and she supported the pardons wholeheartedly, posting “RELEASE THEM NOW” from outside the D.C. jail saying they “have already paid too much time.”
On January 6, Boebert said she was, “grateful to the Capitol Police for their service.” Somehow though, she has seemed to forget her gratitude.
There’s Scott Perry, running for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District who, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee, was a key player in attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
In 2019, he said, “Even though somebody’s elected that you don’t agree with, you accept the will of the people and you get on with it.” Scott, why did you not uphold this same value set only a year later?
Biggs has urged Americans to “back the blue.” Yet he, Boebert and Perry were among just 21 House members, all Republicans, who voted in June 2021 against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to my fellow officers who defended the Capitol.
There’s Tommy Tuberville running for governor of Alabama. He called the rioters “innocent patriotic Americans,” and when asked about the officers being attacked he deflected, saying, “I didn’t see it.”
That’s a strange answer from a man who, announcing his Back the Blue Act, said, “We have to send a message loud and clear: violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated.” Apparently he can tolerate some violence against law enforcement.
Ken Paxton, running for Senate in Texas spoke at the rally that came just before the attack on the Capitol. He sued battleground states to overturn their results, and has long raised suspicions about the authenticity of 2020 election results.
Just this year, Paxton said, “I’ve supported law enforcement … protecting them from political attacks.” But when hundreds of people who assaulted police were pardoned, the man who now says he protects officers from political attacks said nothing.
These elections aren’t symbolic jobs. Governors sign the certificates that send their state’s electoral votes to Congress. Senators and House members count them. Some of the people who tried to stop the count in 2021 are asking for the power to run it in 2028.
These politicians say their duty is to their country. Yet when it called on them to tell the truth about January 6, they looked away, or cheered the mob on. We deserve leaders who will say plainly what happened that day, and who it happened to.
I held the line on January 6 so Congress could finish counting your votes. I didn’t face down that mob just to back down now. On November 3, look at who’s on your ballot and ask a simple question: When it mattered, whose side were they on?
Michael Fanone is a former police officer who defended the Capitol on January 6. He is an Advisory Board Member and Spokesman for Home of the Brave.
Thanks for sharing this important reminder to all voters. It's a perspective I've not considered, although I'm a blue voter. I hope others see this and share widely!
And thank you for your service to legislators and their staff on Jan. 6th. And to all American citizens and voters.
Thank you, Michael. This is a good reminder for this time.