Former Officer Michael Fanone Pessimistic About Jan. 6 Hearings, Telling CNN’s Acosta He Thinks Trump Will Still ‘Get Off The Hook’

Former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone is deeply cynical about the upcoming hearings for the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, telling CNN Newsroom anchor Jim Acosta he has little hope that former President Donald Trump will be held accountable for his actions.

Fanone was one of the members of law enforcement defending the Capitol on that violent day from the mob who sought to interrupt Congress’ certification of the Electoral College votes for now-President Joe Biden’s victory. Rioters brutally attacked Fanone, dragging him down stairs, physically assaulting him and even tasing him with his own stun gun. He suffered a mild heart attack and lost consciousness during the assault, suffering from a concussion and post traumatic stress disorder. Since then, he resigned from the police force and has been a vocal critic of those who participated in the riot, the politicians who encouraged them, and the Congressional Republicans who have sought to minimize the events of Jan. 6 and oppose the work of the committee.

Acosta introduced the segment by asking Fanone if he was going to watch the committee hearings, the first of which will be televised on June 9 at 8 pm ET, and also asked if he thought the hearings would “make much of a difference.”

“I’ll be there,” Fanone replied that his “expectation” was that he would be in the room. “I was promised a front-row seat. I plan on watching as many of the hearings as I can.”

His expectations for the hearings themselves were more measured. “I mean, I was there,” he told Acosta. “I lived that experience. So I’m acutely aware of what took place that day. I’m interested to see what they’ve come up with as far as the days and weeks leading up to January 6th as well as the aftermath, but unfortunately, I don’t believe it’s going to move the needle.”

The problem, Fanone thought, was that most people in America were “indifferent” about what happened on Jan. 6, and everyone else was “pretty well encamped” in their partisan sides.

People were “tired of politics,” he continued, but “for me, it’s deeply personal” because he had “experienced it” and “almost lost my life,” but he still understood the impulse for most people to focus on “raising their families” and “making a living.”

Acosta asked him about the Department of Justice’s decision to not to prosecute former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino over their refusal to cooperate with congressional subpoenas. Meadows had originally turned over a trove of communications with Trump and other allies of the former president, but then stopped cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee. Scavino’s attorneys were in talks with the committee to negotiate his participation but did not reach any agreement and refused to provide the requested documents or information.

Fanone characterized the DOJ’s decision as “way above my pay grade” and something that he could not understand, because “the world I come from, comply with the subpoena or don’t comply with the subpoena. There’s no middle ground. And if you’re not compliant, you get arrested. I mean, that’s just the way that it works.”

It didn’t bode well for his confidence, Fanone said, that the DOJ would actually prosecute “someone either from the Trump administration or one of his sycophants if there was a crime discovered as part of this investigation.”

I think they’ve made up their mind, and I think that what we’re seeing is that if you’re part of a political administration, an elected official, there are some crimes you’ll be able to get away with.

“Are you worried Trump will be let off the hook?” asked Acosta. “Going to get off scot-free in all this?”

“I believe he’s going to get off the hook,” Fanone concurred. “I believe that he’s going to — you know get out of this unscathed, and I think there’s a significant possibility that he becomes president again in 2024.”

The reason, Fanone explained, was that he saw how much support “still exists” across the country for Trump, even after everything that happened on Jan. 6. For these ardent Trump supporters, “January 6th was a 1776-esque event, something that participants are proud of” and “celebrate.”

Acosta asked Fanone about the “cult-like behavior” of Trump supporters, and whether that was why he believed Trump could get re-elected, “because there’s a cult of personality around him.”

“I think that that’s part of it,” Fanone replied, citing the adage about how evil exists when good men do nothing. “It’s people’s indifference” and “those who have the ability to stop this, their unwillingness to stand up for what’s right — that’s what’s gotten us into this mess.”

“I know you’re pessimistic about this, and we’ve talked about this, but there are good people who are trying to do the right thing and you’re one of them,” Acosta said to wrap the interview. “And as hokey as that sounds, we appreciate it.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.