A former Washington, D.C., police officer said that the public has seen “ample probable cause” indicating former President Trump committed crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Michael Fanone, who was beaten by rioters and suffered a heart attack during the insurrection while working for the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday that in order to “restore the credibility of the Department of Justice” the country needs to return to the rule of law, which he said means that no one is above the law, including Trump.
“If there’s probable cause to suggest that he committed these crimes, which I think we’ve seen ample probable cause, he should be arrested. The case should be put before a grand jury, and if they indict him, he should be tried,” Fanone said.
Fanone’s comments come amid a series of public hearings being held by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot in which the panel is making the case Trump was at the center of an effort to retain power that led directly to the violence that day.
In the most recent hearing earlier this week, Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked as a top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gave testimony detailing some of Trump’s actions on the day of the attack.
Hutchinson testified, among other things, that Trump knew members of the crowd that gathered for his rally at the Ellipse before the riot were armed and requested that attendees be allowed to skip going through magnetometers. Trump has denied those allegations.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a member of the panel, claimed at the end of the hearing that Trump allies sent messages to two witnesses testifying to the committee in an apparent attempt to intimidate them.
Fanone said he does not have “the highest of hopes” that Attorney General Merrick Garland will bring charges against Trump because he believes Garland desired political accountability for Trump without a trial, which would be “ugly” for the country.
“But I don’t think that’s enough,” Fanone said. “It’s not enough for me, and I don’t think it’s enough for most Americans.”