CNN has aired a newly obtained body-cam video of an attack on a police officer during the Capitol riot on January 6.
Airing the “stunning” footage, as CNN’s Don Lemon put it, the “CNN Tonight” host said on Wednesday night, “This is difficult to watch but it is the truth of what happened that day.”
The portion of the video showed is from approximately 3:15 p.m. EST on January 6. As Lemon noted, in the video D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone is tased and can be heard “screaming as one of the insurrectionists says, ‘Got one.'”
In the video, a voice can be heard saying, “Don’t hurt him” and “We’re better than this.”
Fanone says at one point, “I have kids.”
Some people are heard helping the officer, which, as CNN reports, “gave Fanone a moment of protection.” However, the officer was “ultimately knocked unconscious,” according to CNN.
EXCLUSIVE: @CNN has obtained bodycam video showing the attack on DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) May 13, 2021
Fanone was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole. Watch: pic.twitter.com/TaItyUz9IX
Fanone suffered a minor heart attack during the insurrection. He recently told Lemon that in the months since the attack that he suffered PTSD and “emotional trauma.”
“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,” Fanone said.
During Wednesday’s show, Lemon also targeted some recent remarks by Republicans.
Pushing back on using the word “insurrection” to describe what occurred on January 6, Rep. Anthony Clyde (R-Ga.) said during a hearing, “Let’s be honest with the American people, it was not an insurrection. And we cannot call it that and be truthful.”
He also suggested, “Watching the TV footage of those who entered Capitol and walked through Statutory Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, 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.”
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” Lemon said.
