Chicago Police Union Boss Says Attack On U.S. Capitol Not A Coup

CHICAGO — Don't call it a "coup attempt," Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday leaving four dead.

"It’s an inconvenience at this point, is all it is,” Catanzara said in a Wednesday night interview on WBEZ. "This is not some mass insurrection, coup attempt. They’re not destroying or burning down the fricking Capitol building. This hyperbole and this emotion that the media is spewing now, like this is some kind of end-of-times scenario, is ridiculous."

Catanzara told WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell that it's "ridiculous and ignorant" to compare mayhem at the nation's Capitol to the widespread destruction inspired by civil unrest this summer "all across the country all summer long in Democratic-ran cities.”

MORE ON PATCH: Trump Mob Attacks Capitol; 4 Deaths; 69 Arrests; FBI Seeks Tips

"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 said during the radio interview.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot responded to Catanzara's insistence that a coup is in the eye of the beholder on Twitter.

"This wasn't 'frustration.' It was a violent insurrection. The comments by John Catanzara, Chicago FOP President, either demonstrate clear delusion or reckless disrespect for the rule of law—or both," Lightfoot wrote in response to Mitchell's tweets about the interview.

The police union boss who was disciplined by the police department in 2017 for publicly displaying his support for President Donald Trump while in uniform told WBEZ that he believes "something shady" prevented Trump's election, and he'll never be convinced "that many people voted for Joe Biden."

“I don’t have any doubt that something shady happened in this election,” Catanzara said in the radio interview. “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.”

Catanzara told WBEZ's Mitchell that the worst crime committed on Capitol Hill Wednesday was trespassing, "but to call these people treasonous is beyond ridiculous and ignorant.”

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police had a different take.

“The members of the mob who tried to undermine the very core of our democracy yesterday are terrorists and should be treated as such. They should be hunted down and prosecuted with the same urgency as all others who have threatened the existence of our free nation. The members of the Fraternal Order of Police pledge to assist in any way we can to bring these individuals to justice and to [ensure] that the loyal, law-abiding citizens we are sworn to protect and serve never have to experience this level of infamy again,” the union representing police officers statewide said in a statement.