Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn has had the identical purpose for the final 5 years: Inform the reality in regards to the assault on Jan. 6, 2021, and maintain Donald Trump accountable for no matter his position was in it.
“I’m so drained and exhausted, however the combat continues to go on,” Dunn instructed HuffPost. “We’re all the time having, it appears, to indicate up, only a few folks, to remind America or push again towards politicians saying, ‘We have to transfer on from Jan. 6.’ However we are able to’t transfer on till we acknowledge what occurred appropriately and with out this administration making an attempt to lie and rewrite what occurred that day.”
What it means to indicate up has advanced over the previous couple of years.
When he was nonetheless on the drive, Dunn was one among only a handful of officers who willingly got here ahead within the wake of the assault to testify publicly in regards to the harrowing experience he endured defending the Capitol. He usually appeared on tv to push again towards conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 and spent years going out and in of D.C. courtrooms, providing sworn testimony about his expertise.
Dunn was an integral witness for the federal government when the Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy trial unfolded in 2022, in the end blowing apart claims by members of the extremist group that they had been “serving to” him and different officers to quell the mob that day.
He was deeply pissed off when Trump’s victory within the 2024 election put an finish to former particular counsel Jack Smith’s felony case towards Trump. The case was dismissed with out prejudice, which suggests it could possibly technically be introduced once more. It’s an extended shot, however Dunn is an optimist.
“There’s nonetheless a possibility someplace down the road for accountability available, in a authorized sense,” he stated.
No matter what does — or doesn’t — occur in federal courtroom, Dunn stated he can proceed to push again “towards the lies and whitewashing.” Trump has repeatedly claimed, together with on Tuesday, that Jan. 6, 2021, was a “day of affection” or that folks lawfully prosecuted and convicted for crimes on the Capitol had been “hostages” and “political prisoners.” One among Trump’s first official acts throughout his second time period was to pardon everybody convicted of crimes associated to Jan. 6, and he claimed all of them had been egregiously wronged by the Justice Division.
A lawsuit Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges introduced towards the Architect of the Capitol over Home Republicans’ failure to put in a plaque commemorating officers injured on Jan. 6 is a part of that, he stated.
Rejecting such a plaque is “a continuation of them making an attempt to get rid of that historical past and paint Jan. 6 as a good occasion to Donald Trump,” he stated.
AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin
A number of high-profile Jan. 6 rioters, together with the chief of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, showed up in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The anniversary occasion was billed as an opportunity to memorialize the assault as a peaceable protest and have fun rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police on Jan. 6 after ignoring police orders to face down as she tried to climb via the damaged glass of the Speaker’s Foyer door.
The group additionally reportedly had deliberate on honoring fallen U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day after he sustained accidents on the Capitol. (The occasion was sparsely attended, and in line with HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney, by 2 p.m. native time, there had but to be any point out of Sicknick.)
When first listening to that pardoned rioters deliberate to honor Sicknick on Tuesday, Dunn’s response was blunt.
“They’re stuffed with crap honoring Brian Sicknick,” he stated. “They don’t give a rattling about him. They don’t.”
He had no real interest in discussing or giving consideration to Proud Boys traipsing round Washington, both.
“I’m solely desirous about ensuring the individuals who enabled and supported Donald Trump don’t see workplace,” he stated. “People who find themselves operating for workplace across the nation which are supporters of Donald Trump and toting a MAGA endorsement, I wish to get them out of workplace. That’s what accountability seems prefer to me now.”
