On Thursday, January 22, 2026, a House hearing was disrupted by a Washington, DC police officer, Michael Fanone, who defended the Capitol during the January 6 riot. As Republican Representative Troy Nehls attempted to blame the riot on Capitol Police officials instead of President Donald Trump, Fanone became outraged and exercised his right to free speech when he yelled, “go f*ck yourself,” to far-right winger Ivan Raiklin. 

Judiciary Hearing

The incident occurred during a hearing where Trump’s former special counsel, Jack Smith, who led two failed prosecutions against him, publicly testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee. He said he was “shocked” to learn the Capitol was being attacked in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and warned there is potential for future threats to US democracy because the legal system failed to hold Trump accountable for his “criminal” actions.

“If we don’t hold people to account when they commit crimes, it sends a message that those crimes are okay, that our society accepts that … it can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers, and ultimately our democracy,” Smith said.

“I can tell you, gentlemen, that the fault does not lie with Donald Trump,” Nehls, a 2020 election conspiracy theorist, said, addressing several law enforcement officers in the courtroom who responded to the riot that day. He added the attack lies with “the US Capitol leadership team.” He was interrupted after his assertion that Capitol officials “had the intelligence.”

“There was going to be a high propensity for violence that day,” he concluded.

Emotional Officer Confronts Ivan Raiklin

A recess followed Nehls’ rant about President Trump, who is not to blame, and the altercation between Fanone and Raiklin occurred. Raiklin went in to shake Fanone’s hand, and the officer began repeatedly telling him to “go F**k yourself,” and not to “pretend” they are on good terms. In response, Raiklin asked, “Why do you have to lose your cool like that?“

Fanone told him, “You’re a traitor to this f*cking country,” and as others surrounded the two men, Fanone announced, “This guy has threatened my family, threatened my children. Threatened to rape my children … you sick bastard.” Later on, X, Raiklin posted a video of the confrontation, denying the claims made, suggesting he would sue Fanone for defamation. 

Fellow officers who sat with Fanone, Harry Dunn, and Aquilino Gonell intervened and pulled himto the side, telling him to have a seat before Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan called the room to order. Ranking member Jamie Raskin and other Democrats thanked Fanone and applauded him for his brave words. Raskin told Jordan, “Mr. Chairman, please control the deranged observer Mr. Raiklin.”

January 6 Riot

Fanone and the other officers, Gonell, Dunn, and Daniel Hodges, sat through the hearing together and were among those at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and were assaulted. Fanone described his experience, stating he was defending the Capitol from Trump’s rioters and that he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.”

January 6 is a day everyone will remember in the United States. It is the day that President Donald Trump called for thousands of his supporters to gather and support his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The rioters were attempting to keep Trump in power by preventing the counting of Electoral College votes to formally inaugurate Joe Biden. The attack was unsuccessful, but not without many casualties, some fatal. 

Trump incited the riot during his speech that day, stating, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Around 174 officers were injured, five people died, including a rioter shot by Capitol Police, another of a drug overdose, three of natural causes, including an officer who had a stroke after being assaulted. Four of the responding officers committed suicide in the following months, and the costs of damages were nearly $3 million. 

Following President Trump’s win in the 2024 election, he issued nearly 1,600 blanket pardons to the rioters from January 6 who were arrested. The White House says those individuals were “unfairly targeted, overcharged, and used as political examples. They were not protected by the leaders who failed them. They were punished to cover incompetence.”