Chicago police union boss blasts media for hypocrisy after DC Capitol riot

In an interview with WBEZ, Catanzara said he understands the frustration behind the riot, which led to four deaths, dozens of injuries including police officers and damage to the campus.

"There was no arson, there was no burning of anything, there was no looting, there was very little destruction of property. It was a bunch of pissed-off people that feel an election was stolen, somehow, some way."

Catanzara is convinced that there was voter fraud and that Joe Biden stole the election. "I don’t have any doubt that something shady happened in this election. You’re not going to convince me that that many people voted for Joe Biden. Never for the rest of my life will you ever convince me of that. But, again, it still comes down to proof."

"Evidence matters," Catanzara told WBEZ. "Until that appears, shame on them for what they did, but it was out of frustration. There’s no fights. There’s no, obviously, violence in this crowd. They pushed past security and made their way to the Senate chamber. Did they destroy anything when they were there? No."

Rioters supporting the president stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, DC on Wednesday as a joint session of Congress was discussing the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Legislators were forced to flee the scene as rioters forced their way past police and smashed windows.

Catanzara said Wednesday’s mayhem was "very different than what happened all across this country all summer long in Democratic-ran cities and nobody had a problem with that."

The focus last summer, he said, was "blaming the police and the police’s response to the violence, looting and criminal behavior."

"If the worst crime here is trespassing, so be it. But to call these people treasonous is beyond ridiculous and ignorant."

Catanzara laid the blame directly on the media. "It’s a whole side of the argument and, primarily, your profession is at the root of it, basically championing Joe Biden the whole time."

Catanzara was disciplined by the Chicago Police Department in 2017 for posing in uniform with a sign saying he supports "his president."

The union’s national umbrella organization endorsed Trump’s election bids in both 2016 and 2020.