EXCLUSIVE: Former cop attacked on Jan 6th calls on Scott Perry to oppose ‘Big Lie Bill’

Former Washington DC police officer Michael Fanone is calling on Congressman Scott Perry to oppose a federal voter suppression bill.

Former Washington DC police officer Michael Fanone is featured in a searing six-figure television ad campaign demanding Congressman Scott Perry (R-York) oppose a strict federal voter suppression bill that’s been dubbed the “Big Lie Bill.” 

“January 6th. It was the closest I’ve ever came to dying. I responded to the capitol because I heard other police officers screaming out for help,” said Fanone at the beginning of the ad, which is paid for by Courage for America, an organization dedicated to fighting extremism. 

Fanone, who was attacked with a stun gun on Jan. 6, 2021, described what it was like leaving one of the capitol tunnels to see thousands of rioters storming the grounds, calling it a “scene of medieval battle.”

It ends with Fanone telling Perry to do his job and oppose H.R. 4563.

The ad features footage from Fanone’s body camera on the day of the insurrection and will start airing this Saturday, which marks three years since the attack on the US capitol, and run through Jan. 19 during Good Morning America in the Harrisburg media market. 

H.R. 4563 was introduced last July and passed out of the Committee on House Administration by an 8-to-4 vote days later. 

The bill would require voters to provide a form of identification to vote by mail, override Washington DC’s election laws, and restrict states from using federal funds to partner with non-governmental organizations on voter registration or get out the vote drives, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

There are currently five Republicans from Pennsylvania that signed onto the bill as cosponsors, but Perry isn’t one of them. 

“[Perry] has not given a public position yet, which is one of the reasons we are applying pressure now,” Albert Fujii, a spokesperson with Courage for America, said in a statement. “The goal is to ensure he knows Pennsylvanians are against this type of voter suppression legislation and that H.R. 4563 is toxic.”

The organization is targeting Perry’s district because of the congressman’s role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results. Following the 2020 election, Perry worked with allies of former President Donald Trump and members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to try and overturn Pennsylvania’s election results. 

Perry was served with a federal search warrant by federal investigators in August 2022 for communications relating to the 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021. 

The congressman used over $75,000 in campaign contributions to keep those communications secret, but text messages and emails published in a recent court filing shows how Perry worked with Republicans to spread misinformation about voting machines and to draft resolutions and letters calling the validity of Pennsylvania’s election into question.