Michael Fanone, the former Washington, D.C., police officer who was beaten by insurrectionists during the attack on the U.S. Capitol, didn’t mince words when asked about Arizona’s election-denying gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
The Republican nominee is a “piece of shit,” Fanone said on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” on Tuesday.
Fanone was discussing a new anti-Lake ad that features the mother of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day after he was assaulted by rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The ad, produced by the Republican Accountability Project, shows Gladys Sicknick saying Lake is dangerous for the country because she continues to spread former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. “My son died because of people like Kari Lake,” Sicknick says in the ad.
Fanone, who had a heart attack after he was beaten and electroshocked by Trump supporters, was all for the ad.
“I’ve gotten to know Mrs. Sicknick pretty well, and I thought that was a powerful ad,” he said on MSNBC. “I think she’s out there trying to do what we’re all trying to do here, which is bring accountability for Jan. 6. And I also support the fact that Kari Lake is a piece of shit. So I’m glad she did that ad.”
Lake, who is running for governor after working for two decades as a local news anchor, has been endorsed by Trump and other far-right conspiracy-theory peddlers such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
She already drew on the Trump election playbook during her primary, declaring victory before the race was called and crying foul about fraud and corruption while her opponent was in the lead.
Polls show her holding a very slim lead in the race against the Democratic nominee, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.