Social media users are claiming that District of Columbia police officer Michael Fanone was photographed carrying a Confederate flag inside of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the building. The man in the photo was someone else.
Examples can be seen here , here and here .
The text on one post reads: “Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone testified this week before the January 6 committee and he said, “I was beaten unconscious..”……… HEY MICHAEL, HOW IN THE HELL COULD THAT BE SINCE PHOTOS HAVE EMERGED OF YOU INSIDE THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6 CARRYING A REBEL FLAG AND POSING AS A DECOY PROTESTER!!! THESE PICTURES ARE YOU, RIGHT??? THEY DAMN SURE LOOK LIKE YOU!!! Remember friends, this was a set-up by the left so they could blame it all on Trump!!!! OPTICS……OPTICS ARE EVERYTHING!!”
Fanone was one of the four police officers who told lawmakers on July 27, 2021, about their experience in the storming of the Capitol. He said was pulled into the crowd, beaten, shocked repeatedly with a Taser, robbed of his badge, and knocked unconscious, suffering a heart attack. Fanone said he heard a rioter say: "kill him with his own gun." (here)
Photographs of Fanone can be seen here and here .
The posts show a photograph of a man who was at the Capitol with a confederate flag. The original photograph is visible on Getty Images, here .
The man was identified as Kevin Seefried by news organizations here , here and here , as well as Reuters here and here .
A closer look at photographs of Seefried here and Fanone here clearly show that they are not the same person.
VERDICT
False. Capitol police officer Michael Fanone did not take part in the Capitol siege holding a confederate flag.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
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