Former policeman Michael Fanone compared the indictment of former President Trump to the American military murdering Osama bin Laden in order to celebrate the development.
Former Washington, D.C., law enforcement officer Fanone, who was hurt during the riots on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol and is now a CNN analyst, expressed happiness that Trump has been charged with conspiracy relating to the presidential election in 2020.
“As he did when he discovered that Osama bin Laden had been slain by our troops,” Fanone remarked on CNN this week, “When I originally heard about this indictment, I had an extended conversation with a good friend of mine, Ryan Reilly, and I explained to him how grateful I felt that I was an American at that particular moment. I just felt so incredibly proud.”
CNN presenter Laura Coates seemed surprised by the remark.
She retorted, “These two seemed comparable to you?”
Fanone attempted to avoid the question, but Coates cut him off and made him answer.
He responded, “I think they’re equivalent. Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who carried out a terrible deed against the citizens of the United States and our nation. Furthermore, I think Donald Trump is a terrorist who has perpetrated atrocious crimes against the American people.”
Coates was plainly uncomfortable with the comment.
Unfortunately, she didn’t ask Fanone to elaborate on the “horrific acts” he claimed Trump had committed, but it was clear from the content she presented in her follow-up question that her opinion did not find the assertion to be moderate. She asked Fanone if he believed that his rhetoric might “cloud the public’s impression of this indictment as being a fair process.”
“You understand that that was a very eyebrow-raising assertion, to put it mildly,” she said of the connection between Osama bin Laden and Donald Trump.
