MSNBC host gets emotional in interview with former DC officer on Jan. 6 anniversary

MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart got emotional during an interview with former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone on the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Right after introducing Fanone, Capehart became visibly emotional and his voice shook.

“Officer Fanone, I’m gonna try to get through this,” Capehart said. “Thank you, for what you did, three years ago today.”

During the insurrection, Fanone was beaten and tased, and suffered a heart attack as well as a traumatic brain injury.

A California man pleaded guilty in February 2023 to assaulting Fanone during the Jan. 6 riots. Another rioter pleaded guilty a month later to “forcibly removing” Fanone’s badge and radio while a group of insurrectionists “tased, kicked, punched, pushed, grabbed and hit” the then-Metropolitan Police Department officer.

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Fanone has since been outspoken about his experiences during the riot and repeatedly criticized former President Trump. During a separate MSNBC interview Friday, Fanone said President Biden needs to fight harder for Democracy. 

“I think it’s an all-hands-on-deck effort to make sure that Donald Trump doesn’t assume the presidency in 2024,” Michael Fanone said on MSNBC. “We all know what that’s gonna look like, he’s told us as much.”

“But I also — yeah, I’ve gotta point out some of the disappointments that I’ve had over the past three years,” Fanone continued. “And that’s, where’s the outrage on behalf of the current administration? You know, I give credit, Joe Biden has given some fiery speeches with regards to MAGA and its effort to overturn a free and fair election. But that’s something that this country needs to hear every single day, specifically younger people, young voters.”

In his first campaign speech of the year Friday, the President Biden highlighted the Jan. 6 attack in an attempt to underscore an argument that Trump and his supporters had embraced the type of extremism on display that day.

“Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot,” Biden said during the speech near Valley Forge, Pa.