DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten, Tased, and had his gear torn off his chest by the mob of Trump supporters that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 spoke to CNN’s Don Lemon for a powerful interview on Tuesday night.

An emotional Don Lemon started the interview by saying he had become friends with Fanone since getting to know him in the aftermath of the attack.

Fanone said he has been experiencing “PTSD and emotional trauma” in the months since January 6.

The officer, who said at one point rioters called to shoot him with his own gun, decried the “whitewashing” of the bloody attack by former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

“It’s been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals kind of whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened,” Fanone said.

While he didn’t mention Trump by name, he referenced the former president’s claim that the rioters were “hugging and kissing” police.

Fanone said that characterization “is very different from what I experienced, what my co-workers experienced, on the 6th.”

Lemon asked Fanone to respond to rhetoric casting the rioters as harmless patriots.

“I think it’s dangerous,” Fanone said. “I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish their goal.”

Fanone had to pause as he grew emotional, apologizing to Lemon.

“I experienced the most brutal, savage hand to hand combat of my entire life,” he continued. “Let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades.”

Fanone described himself as apolitical, saying that aside from presidential elections every four years, “the rest of the time I don’t give a f*ck.” Still, he said Trump’s rhetoric was to blame for the attack.

Lemon aired footage of Fanone being dragged into the mob on the steps of the Capitol Building, a moment the officer described as similar to being held down by waves as a kid.

“They just started attacking me from all directions,” Fanone said. “It was overwhelming. I felt like they were trying to kill me.”

Watch above, via CNN.

The post DC Cop Beaten in ‘Savage’ Capitol Attack Condemns ‘Dangerous’ Whitewashing of Riot in Emotional Interview With Don Lemon first appeared on Mediaite.

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