A former Washington, D.C. police officer seriously wounded in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly came to blows with a right-wing election-denier during prosecutor Jack Smith’s congressional hearing on Thursday.
The dust-up came during a break in the proceedings, when activist and Army veteran Ivan Raiklin approached former cop Michael Fanone to shake his hand.
“F–k yourself,” Fanone repeatedly told Raiklin as officers who served with him on Jan. 6 and current Capitol Hill police restrained the 43-year-old law enforcement vet.
Raiklin calmly taunted Fanone for needing to be restrained.
“Look at me, totally in control over my mind and body,” he said, as seen in video shared online.
Fanone, a D.C. native who worked for the Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department before retiring after the 2021 riot at the Capitol, has said he suffered a heart attack, brain injury and PTSD on that day.
He was dragged down steps, Tazed and sprayed with chemical agents as MAGA loyalists hoping to stop the certification of President Biden’s electoral win called for Fanone to be killed with his own service weapon.
According to Fanone, he’s also been terrorized by Raiklin.
“This guy has threatened my family, threatened my children, threatened to rape my children…” he told witnesses on Thursday while pointing at his 49-year-old adversary.
U.S. Capitol police increased their presence after the altercation that prompted Raiklin to leave the building, according to The Hill.
While the face-off occurred during a break, Fanone also kept one F-bomb in reserve for the actual hearing.
“Go f–k yourself,” he seemed to say through a muffled cough when Texas Rep. Troy Nehls blamed law enforcement for letting Jan. 6 spiral into chaos.
Lawmakers listened as former special counsel Jack Smith said President Trump was the “person most responsible” for the attack on the Capitol, which he believes would have been proven had the case gone to trial.
