Capitol riot: Officer Michael Fanone retires from police force ahead of anniversary

The police officer who suffered a heart attack after being beaten up by a mob during the Capitol riots has resigned from the force ahead of the anniversary and will join CNN as a commentator.

Michael Fanone, 41, who has been vocal in condemning those underplaying the violence that occurred in the Capitol building on 6 January, will officially depart on 31 December after using his leaves, according to The Washington Post.

He submitted his resignation on Monday, expressing anger towards fellow officers who he claimed were more loyal to former president Donald Trump than to the Constitution.

“Clearly there are some members of our department who feel their oath is to Donald Trump and not to the Constitution,” Mr Fanone was quoted by WaPo as saying. “I no longer felt like I could trust my fellow officers and decided it was time to make a change.”

While the DC police have not confirmed his resignation, a spokesperson from CNN told the newspaper that the officer would be joining them as an on-air contributor on law enforcement issues.

During the riots in the Capitol, Mr Fanone was dragged into the crowd and beaten till he became unconscious.

In the footage of the attack, one of the Trump supporters in the crowd was heard saying: “We got one! We got one!” Another person said “Kill him with his own gun!”

Following the incident, he also suffered a heart attack and went through treatment for months.

Since then, the officer has publicly denounced lawmakers who downplayed the attack several times and often appeared on CNN in the past.

In his testimony before the Congress, he hit out at the lawmakers who “are now telling me that hell doesn’t exist – or that hell actually wasn’t that bad.”

Mr Fanone had admitted that he had voted for Mr Trump in 2016 but added that he did not support his re-election.