Former Washington DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone praised Capitol Police and Metro officers who have continued to work to keep Congress safe in the years since the insurrection.

       “It was important for the officers, myself included, that went to the Capitol to not be viewed at victims,” Mr Fanone said on CNN on Thursday morning, the one-year anniversary of the insurrection when a crowd of Trump supporters laid siege to Congress in an attempt to stop them from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.

       “We were American police officers who responded to the Capitol and fought off an insurrection in defence of democracy,” he added. “I’m incredibly proud of that and I’m proud of the officers that continue until this day to uphold their oath to the constitution and defend democracy.”

       He “specifically” praised his former department and the US Capitol Police who have to “walk the same halls as some of these insurrectionist members of Congress — I couldn’t imagine sharing a workspace with those jacka**es”.

       Mr Fanone, who was assaulted during the riot and testified about his experience before Congress, recently joined CNN as a law enforcement analyst.

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       He resigned from the Metro Police Department in December, saying that “clearly there are some members of our department who feel their oath is to Donald Trump and not to the Constitution”.

       Mr Fanone had a heart attack during the insurrection and has regularly appeared on the network in the months since to share his experience.

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       “Some of the terminology that was used, like ‘hugs and kisses’ and ‘very fine people’, is very different from what I experienced and what my co-workers experienced on the 6th,” Mr Fanone said on the network in the spring of 2021. “I think it’s dangerous. It is very much not the experience I had on the 6th. I experienced a group of individuals who were trying to kill me to accomplish their goal.”

       Speaking on CNN on 3 January, Mr Fanone said that the fight with insurrections seemed to last a “whole of a hell lot longer than it actually was and it was terrifying”.

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       “Watching it is a lot easier than living it though,” he added. Mr Fanone said he hasn’t watched any footage from the riot for quite some time. “I think I’ve just had enough,” he said.