DC Police Officer Calls GOP Lawmaker a ‘Coward’ After Refusing To Shake His Hand

One D.C. police officer is calling out a Republican congressman for refusing to shake his hand, labeling him a “coward.”

D.C. Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone went to the U.S. Capitol to speak to the 21 House Republicans who voted against the Gold Medal resolution, a bill awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the police officers who responded to the attack on January 6, according to The Washington Post.

During an appearance on CNN, host Don Lemon played footage of Rep. Andrew S. Clyde’s (R-Ga.) comments on the insurrection.

“If you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the sixth, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit,” Clyde said on Wednesday night.

When asked what happened when he introduced himself to Clyde, Fanone responded, “I greeted Congressman Clyde. I was very cordial. I extended my hand to shake his hand. He just stared at me. I asked him if he was going to shake my hand and he told me that he didn’t know who I was.”

He explained to Clyde he “suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a heart attack after having been tased numerous times at the base of my skull, as well as being severely beaten.”

Watch the video below:

Fanone went on to tell Lemon, “At that point the congressman turned away from me, pulled out his cellphone. It looked like he was attempting to pull up like an audio recording app on his phone.”

He continued, “And again, like never acknowledged me at any point. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he ran as quickly as he could like a coward.”

Lemon asked Fanone, “What do you think of that?”

The police officer replied, “Obviously, I took that particular interaction like, very personally. But I also took it as a representation of Andrew Clyde giving the middle finger to myself and every other member of the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol police that responded that day.”