Hold the Line Quotes

“If you're going to start talking about Donald Trump like that, we're going to end this meeting right now," (Senator Lindsey) Graham said. Sandra Garza, the widow (of deceased Officer Brian Sicknick), gave Graham a tongue lashing. I cant' recall what she said, specifically, but he shut the fuck up and slumped into his chair.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“The insults didn't faze me. It did piss me off to hear them call Jimmy a traitor. The man had earned a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in Afghanistan while serving his country. He'd returned for multiple tours of duty. He was already a certified American patriot, a hero. Jimmy brushed off the taunts with sarcasm. "That's hurtful." My body-worn camera caught him smiling as he said it. It was the last time either of us would smile for a really fucking long time.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Three of my daughters are Asian American. I've seen through their eyes the racist ways in which Trump labeled Covid-19 the "China virus," China plague," and "Kung Flu."...When my youngest, who is still in elementary school, heard the words, she immediately understood the hate was direct against Asian Americans--directed against her. I read somewhere that Trump and his people find community in rejoicing the suffering of those they hate and fear--that cruelty is the point. This is not easy to explain to a six-year-old.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Less than two weeks after the riot, two officers committed suicide. The first was Capitol Police Officer Howard “Howie” Liebengood, a fifteen-year veteran and son of a former Senate sergeant-at-arms. The second was MPD Officer Jeffrey Smith, who took a fucking crowbar to the head during the riot from a Trump supporter. By year’s end, two other MPD officers who responded to the Capitol assault also would kill themselves: Kyle deFreytag and Gunther Hashida.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Mom, they tried to kill me.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“The rule of law should mean something. If there is probable cause to believe Trump committed crimes--and by now there's little doubt--he should be charged, arrested, and tried. If convicted, Trump should go to prison for the rest of his life. He directed and unleashed an attach on American democracy and destroyed countless police officers' lives. People may say I'm bitter, but I don't give a fuck. I'm angry. I love my country, and I want justice. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is said be reluctant to indict a former president needs to grow a pair and do his job.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“I said on air that Pence was just trying to salvage what might be left of his political career and reputation. "Because he knows inevitably history is going to take a big shit on his head." I got in trouble for saying that last one on live TV.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Kinzinger turned to the four of us and acknowledged that he gotten to know us a bit, and that we represented hundreds of officers who responded on January 6th. "I think it's important to tell you right now that though you guys may individually feel a little broken, and you guys all talk about the effects you have to deal with, and you talk about the impact of that day, but you guys won. You guys held.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“To say that members of Congress have egos is like saying that I like cold beer.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“The greatest trick in American history was Donald Trump convincing rednecks and cops that he somehow speaks for us.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Another fallen warrior, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died in the line of duty. On January 6th, Officer Sicknick engaged rioters and was badly injured around 2:30 p.m., when he was sprayed with chemicals by someone in the crowd. Later that evening, while still on duty guarding the Capitol, he suffered a series of strokes. He died the following morning.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“At no point that day did I ever think about the politics of that crowd. Even the things that were said not resonate in the middle of that chaos, but what did resonate was the fact that thousands of Americans were attacking police officers who were simply there doing their job, and that they were there to disrupt members of Congress who were doing their jobs.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Jamie Raskin, the brilliant and perpetually disheveled Maryland Democrat, asked me about internet conspiracies that alleged I was beaten by the mob because I was mistaken for an Antifa agitator. I stifled a smile. "Well, I was in full uniform. I was wearing my uniform shirt adorned with the Metropolitan Police Department's patch. I had my badge on until somebody ripped it off my chest." I could have added that I also wore a jacket with the words," METROPOLITAN POLICE" stenciled across the back and a helmet emblazoned with the letters "MPDC." Keeping a straight face, I told Raskin, "I do not believe I was mistaken for a member of Antifa.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“I'd never seen the footage on the news, and now in a way I'd never experience, seeing it on CNN somehow seemed to validate, at least in my mind, the significance of the event. On national television, in prime time. I broke down and sobbed, burying my head on the bar. At that moment, I cried harder and longer than I have in my entire life.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Many of the members' young staffers were worse. Arrogant Ivy League twentysomethings berated me for forcing them to submit to the most basic security protocols. It was as if running a metal detector over the Starbucks cup they carried might curdle the soy milk in their grande vanilla latte, or delay them from A VERY IMPORTANT meeting.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“I left the summer hearings struck by how fragile our democracy is, and how much we rely on an honor system to keep it operating.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“It’s human nature to minimize one’s mistakes, but if you try to rewrite the facts, or assemble them in a way that reflects better on you, things rarely end well.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Look,” I said, “maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe you’re missing the point. What I was trying to do was to show the progression of a police officer, how we need to stop viewing the people we encounter on the streets as the enemy.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“This remains a glaring police problem with a simple solution: Officers should train with their weapon at least every ninety days in stressful simulations. You can’t completely replicate the tension an officer feels as he or she approaches someone suspected of carrying a weapon, but enhanced firearm training under duress would go a long way to help reduce our national epidemic of officer-involved shootings”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Back at the ER, while waiting on my test results, a nurse asked me how I was doing.
"I don't know," replied. "How am I'm doing?"
"Everything's great," she lied. "You're doing fine."
"No, no," I said pointing to my crotch. "How am I dong?"
She laughed. "I'm sure that'll be fine."
I closed my eyes for a while.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“I wasn't a "good" cop or a "bad" cop. I was an "every" cop.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“After my appearance on Don’s show, I reached out to other networks to let them know I was available to talk about attempts to whitewash January 6th and dishonor the officers who defended the Capitol. CBS, MSNBC, and a few local affiliates took me up on my offer. I contacted Fox News repeatedly, but their bookers and producers told me I was not welcome on their network. One flat out told me that her bosses had banned anyone whose January 6th experience didn’t conform with Fox’s narrative. “And unfortunately,” she said, “that includes you, specifically, Mike.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“But on January 6th for the first time, I was more afraid to work at the Capitol than my entire deployment to Iraq,” Aquilino told the committee. “In Iraq, we expected armed violence because we were in a war zone, but nothing in my experience in the Army or as a law enforcement officer prepared me for what we confronted on January 6th.” During the riot, Aquilino said, he was kicked, pushed, shoved, spit on, and sprayed with chemical irritants. Someone targeted his eyes with a laser. He was attacked with hammers, rebars, batons, police shields, rods, and a metal pole flying an American flag. Aquilino said the rioters tried to pull him into the crowd, and one of them beat him with his own baton. “I, too, was being crushed by the rioters,” Aquilino said. “I could feel myself losing oxygen and thinking to myself, ‘This is how I’m going to die, defending this entrance.’ ” Aquilino suffered injuries to both hands, his left shoulder, right calf, and right foot. His foot and shoulder wounds—a labrum tear and rotator cuff damage—required painful surgery.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Pelosi would create a special House committee to investigate the insurrection. A few weeks later, the House considered a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to every officer who defended the Capitol on January 6th. It was a simple, apolitical gesture of recognition. The Congressional Gold Medal bill did not call for any kind of investigation or cast aspersions on anyone. It merely honored the officers who risked their lives to stop a violent insurrection. Even so, twenty-one Republicans voted against it. For the historical record, here are the names of those twenty-one spineless fucks: Andrew Clyde, Paul Gosar, Jody Hice, Lauren Boebert, Barry Moore, Ralph Norman, Matthew Rosendale, Chip Roy, Warren Davidson, Scott Perry, Mary Miller, Andy Biggs, Thomas Massie, Andy Harris, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert, Michael Cloud, Greg Steube, Bob Good, and John Rose.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“What I mean is that officers should train as soldiers do—by repeatedly rehearsing their most stressful tasks, so that when confronted in real life with a life-or-death situation, they reflexively make the correct decision.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“It was brutal hand-to-hand combat, a meat grinder. We were packed together so tightly, I didn’t even have enough space to cock a fist and punch back. My only weapon was my body weight, and the strength of the officers pushing behind me.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Like millions of Americans, I would have voted for Donald Duck over Donald Trump.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“This remains a glaring police problem with a simple solution: Officers should train with their weapon at least every ninety days in stressful simulations. You can’t completely replicate the tension an officer feels as he or she approaches someone suspected of carrying a weapon, but enhanced firearm training under duress would go a long way to help reduce our national epidemic of officer-involved shootings.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“We’re running out of time to save our country. We need to dig in. We need to hold the line.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“People often ask me what it costs to do the right thing. The answer is grim: It cost me nearly everything.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul