Michael Fanone described his “medieval battle scene” experience at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection and what ensued afterward that led him to become an advocate for accountability and democracy.

Attendees went through security at the entrance of Maceli’s on Sunday before packing into the event hosted by Leading Kansas, a nonprofit organization that aims to hold elected officials accountable.

Noah Taylor, co-founder of Leading Kansas, played a BBC clip featuring Fanone’s Jan. 6 body camera footage. Taylor then introduced Fanone, who received a standing ovation. 

Fanone recounted how he started the morning at his mother’s house before receiving calls about the riot. Fanone was working in the narcotics division of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan police department, but decided to join fellow police officers in defending the Capitol. He suffered a mild heart attack and traumatic brain injury as a result of being attacked by rioters. 

“You couldn’t slide a credit card between two people,” Fanone said. “I was pulled out into the crowd, away from the police line, surrounded, restrained, beaten, struck with a taser twice.”

After recovering, Fanone was reassigned to the Technical and Analytical Services Bureau, which Fanone described as the “IT department.” He effectively quit through a note written on a Dunkin Donuts napkin. After hearing Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia argue that the Capitol attack looked like a “normal tourist visit,” Fanone reached out to Don Lemon at CNN to release his body camera footage.

“That really, I think, was the moment in which I went and go full on into activism,” Fanone said, arguing his main goal was to counteract the narrative that the Capitol attack did not happen or was not violent.

Fanone, who voted for Trump in 2016, struggled with ostracization from both sides of the aisle, as much of the Democratic party was still part of the “Defund the Police” movement and the Republican party’s supporters were largely the ones who carried out the riot. He noted that many officers resigned afterward, not because of the insurrection itself but because of how officers were treated. 

Since then, Fanone has gone viral and gained recognition for his comments to Rep. Troy Nehls during a congressional hearing where Jack Smith, former special counsel, defended his investigations into Trump. 

“I heard C-SPAN ratings were through the roof that day,” Fanone said. “These viral moments drew a tremendous amount of attention to the Jack Smith hearing.”

Fanone pointed out that this viral moment was able to serve as a pipeline for people to learn about the hearing and receive “real information.”

Taylor also asked for Fanone’s opinion on ICE, the Epstein files and Trump’s lack of accountability. 

“This idea that you could just pull essentially a paramilitary agency off the border and then deploy them on American streets and think that they are going to treat people with respect, civility, and kindness, and also adhere to the Constitution, is absolutely insane to me,” Fanone said about recent ICE activity in the U.S. 

“They’re not just there to intimidate undocumented or immigrant communities,” he continued. “They’re there to intimidate each and every one of us, you know, to show the unadulterated power of the federal government and what they can do.”

When asked what people can do to stand up against Trump’s abuses of power and lack of accountability, including with regard to the Epstein files, Fanone encouraged the audience to organize and utilize social media and independent media. 

“The reason why we’re so outraged about this moment is because we were all watching it play out on our social media feeds,” Fanone said. “That’s because of the courage of local residents to step outside their front door and rather than turn a blind eye to something that’s happening, not necessarily to them, but to vulnerable members of their community, is exactly how you combat this moment.”

The event culminated in a rally at South Park where attendees sheltered from the rain in the bandstand, some holding anti-ICE and anti-Trump signs. Fanone answered questions, took pictures and signed autographs. 

“I’d seen Fanone all over the media, and really respected him,” said attendee and Lawrence resident Linda Brandenburger. “It was awesome to hear what he had to say, and I totally believe in what he’s doing now and how he’s helping defend democracy.”

Brandenburger described Fanone as a “true patriot” who spreads the truth, and hopes for more people to listen in order to stand up against the current administration. 

“You have to continue to have conversations with people that still don’t quite get it and don’t demonize them,” Brandenburger said. “You’ve got to keep those lines of communication open and say, ‘You know what? It’s not too late to change your mind when you find out something that you believe in is all fake.’”

Hannah Loub (she/her), reporting intern with The Lawrence Times since January 2026, is a journalism and global and international studies major at the University of Kansas. She is currently the lead digital producer for KUJH and worked as a beat reporter for the University Daily Kansan. Read her work for the Times here.

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Maya Smith, (she/her), reporting correspondent, has been with The Lawrence Times since February 2026. She was born and raised in Lawrence and is a journalism student at the University of Kansas. She works at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications as a communications assistant and has been a freelance reporter for the Kansas Reflector since 2024.

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