It took months, but DC Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone finally got his face-to-face meeting with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to discuss the January 6 Insurrection. The meeting, however, did not prove satisfying to Fanone and Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn.
Fanone said Friday afternoon after the meeting that he asked McCarthy to publicly denounce the 21 Republican House members who voted against giving Congressional gold medals to the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, and condemn efforts by some Republicans to downplay the events of that day. McCarthy, according to Fanone, would not commit to any public dressing down of his colleagues. He only said he would discuss it with his members in private, which disappointed the officers.
Fanone told CNN this about the meeting:
“I asked him specifically for a commitment to denounce that publicly. And he said that he would address it at a personal level, with some of those members. But again, I think that as a leader of the House Republican, or I’m sorry, as the leader of the House Republican Party, it’s important to hear those denouncements publicly.”
In recent months, there has been a concerted effort by some Republicans to alter history and downplay the events of the deadly siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Notably, Andrew Clyde, a Representative from Georgia, compared the violence that day to a tourist visit to the Capitol.
More from CNN:
Fanone said after the meeting that he specifically asked McCarthy to denounce GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde's recent comments that January 6 was like a "normal tourist visit," saying that he "found those remarks to be disgusting." He also asked McCarthy to denounce the baseless conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the January 6 attack. "The FBI is the best investigative agency that we have in this country, and I think that members that are espousing, as well as members of the media, that are espousing those remarks are disgusting," he said.
Fanone also said he asked McCarthy to not put obstructionists or conspiracy theorists from his party on the House select committee to investigate Jan. 6 that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced will be set up.