by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told a former police officer who was seriously injured in the attack on Capitol Hill that he should shoot pro-Trump rioters in the head, according to a new book.
The claim is one of a series of startling revelations contained in former Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone’s upcoming memoir Stay on the line.
Mr Fanone writes that he met Graham, a key Trump ally, four months after the deadly siege in May 2021.
According Politico, who obtained an advanced copy of the book, the South Carolina senator told him, “You should have shot them all in the head. We gave you weapons and you should have used them. I don’t understand why that didn’t happen.”
A representative for Mr. Lindsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Fanone reportedly told Graham that laws covering the use of deadly force prevented them from opening fire on the crowd, Politico writes.
Mr Fanone suffered a traumatic brain injury and suffered a heart attack after being beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun on January 6. He has since resigned from the police force and become a CNN contributor.
He writes that the meeting with Mr. Graham was attended by former Capitol Hill official Harry Dunn and the family of slain officer Brian Siknik to try to secure support from Republican senators for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot.
Lindsey Graham told ex-Capitol cop she should have shot January rioters in the head
(Getty Images)
Former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone leaves federal court last week following Kyle Young’s sentencing
(Associated Press)
Mr. Fanone secretly recorded a meeting with Kevin McCarthy around the same time in which he told the House GOP leader that his efforts to play down the unrest on Capitol Hill were “not just shocking but disgraceful,” according to Politico.
Republicans eventually passed legislation that would have created an independent commission to investigate the attack.
In an interview last week with Rolling rockMr Fanone accused Mr McCarthy of being a ‘f**king royal weasel b***h’
A judge in Washington sentenced a rioter who attacked Mr. Fanone to seven years in prison on Wednesday.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Kyle Young he was “a wrecking ball man that day” as she handed down one of the longest sentences to come out of the Capitol uprising.
Stay on the line will be released on October 11th.
