Michael Fanone served as a Metropolitan Police Department Officer assigned to the First District for twenty years. Working briefly as a patrol officer and then spending the majority of his career as a vice investigator in various small mission units, Fanone participated in over 2,000 arrests for violent crimes and narcotics trafficking, served as a special task force officer for the FBI, ATF, and DEA, and earned more than three dozen commendations for his work. Fanone currently serves as an analyst for CNN, a security consultant, and a firearms instructor.

On Jan. 6th, Fanone answered a citywide emergency and rushed to the Capitol to fend off the rioters. He was dragged off the West Terrace, pummeled unconscious with fists and poles, and repeatedly stunned with a Taser on his neck. He suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury. He spent the following months warning about threats to democracy, often alongside CNN anchor Don Lemon.