In their own words: Officers to recall horrors of US Capitol breach

“Although as experienced law enforcement officers they are well positioned to take care of themselves,” Zaid said, “... the level of online harassment and threats is nothing they are familiar with and it can become very hurtful.”

In the five months that Dunn was interviewed about his experience defending the Capitol, he only received one threatening message, Zaid said. 

Threats have ramped up, however, following a recent on-air monologue by conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“People like Carlson, i.e., right wing talking heads, are fueling the hatred just like I experienced during my representation of the intelligence community whistleblowers during the first Trump impeachment,” Zaid said. “If something happens to Officer Dunn or his family, there will likely be a direct line of responsibility to Tucker Carlson and Fox News.”

In the end, on Jan. 6, rioters succeeded only in delaying the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Members of the House and Senate, joined by then-Vice President Mike Pence, successfully completed certifying electoral votes into the wee hours of the morning with help from a small army of National Guard who cleared the building while staffers — most of whom are Black — cleared away litter-strewn halls and feces-stained walls. 

The mood in the aftermath was grave with many representatives, Republican and Democrat, delivering speeches condemning the attack and, at times, Trump. Democrats especially zeroed in on the speech Trump delivered earlier in the day that incited the mob to storm the Capitol and attempt overturning an election he claimed was stolen from him despite all findings, including those from his own Justice Department and intelligence community, to the contrary. 

Since then, however, Jan. 6 has become a political hotbed of uneasy debate where Trump’s most loyal defenders in Congress regularly pit themselves against fellow lawmakers that demand a thorough examination of the events leading up to and during the attack.  

An initial bid to create a commission studying Jan. 6 — modeled after the 9/11 Commission — failed in the Senate after a laborious debate this May. 

That proposed commission was, by definition, bipartisan. It granted subpoena powers for Democrats and Republicans equally and proposed membership be evenly split between the two parties while leadership from either side was allowed to appoint representatives to serve on the panel as they saw fit. 

That proposal was rejected by most Republican Senators who decried it as a poorly veiled political cudgel for Democrats keen to harass the twice-impeached but never convicted Trump.

It was not until the House passed a bill of its own this May — with just 35 Republicans supporting it — that the select committee, not a full-bore commission, was narrowly approved. The select committee convening next week gives Democrats a slight edge through solitary subpoena power and the final say in who members may call to appear for testimony.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi exercised her authority this week by nixing two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the committee — Representatives Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio. 

McCarthy responded by withdrawing all of his remaining picks including Representatives Troy Nehls of Texas, Rodney Davis of Illinois and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota. 

McCarthy has suggested Republican members may soon form their own parallel probe into Jan. 6.

But with or without his input, the select committee will move forward since the body has a quorum. 

McCarthy has not returned multiple requests for comment. 

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat — and one of eight lawmakers tapped by Pelosi to serve on the select committee— said in an email Friday,while congressional oversight of the insurrection has been underway for months, the select committee would go further to reveal “deeply troubling details about deficiencies in the U.S. Capitol Police’s management, training” and more. 

“The Select Committee hearing will be the first time that front line officers have an opportunity to testify directly and answer questions from members. Gathering the perspective of these courageous officers is an important step to finding the truth about the attack,” Lofgren wrote.

But truth can be fickle on Capitol Hill where, despite an abundance of video and audio footage of the day, many lawmakers, including the ones Pelosi booted from the select committee this week, claim things are not quite as they appear. 

Representative Jordan, for example, has claimed supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement were responsible for violence on Jan. 6 or that members of “antifa” are responsible. Antifa is not a group but an ideology that promotes anti-fascist philosophy. 

Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, testified to lawmakers under oath this spring that there is no evidence of this whatsoever. The wider U.S. intelligence community backs up Wray.

Both Officer Dunn and Sergeant Gonnell were on duty in Washington last year during weeks of intense but overwhelmingly peaceful civil rights demonstrations organized by the Black Lives Matter movement last year. 

"The Capitol Police had little trouble then in handling the crowd and properly made arrests where necessary,” Zaid said, noting that Dunn and Gonnell felt the BLM demonstrations and the attack on Jan. 6 were like “day and night” and “cannot be compared.”

“Even for the prior Trump rallies, there is no comparison,” Zaid added. 

In the run up to Tuesday’s hearing, U.S. Capitol Police have been “very responsive” to Zaid’s requests and concerns involving Dunn and Gonnell. 

The objective next week is to ensure both officers are allowed to speak publicly and freely while maintaining their employment. 

“We try to cooperate with both sides. Nothing about the January 6 attack should be political or partisan,” Zaid said. 

The hearings will continue into the months ahead, while the Department of Justice continues to charge and arrest individuals who laid siege to the Capitol. 

There have been more than 535 arrests made and nearly two dozen people have pleaded guilty to charges associated with the riot. At least a dozen people have agreed to cooperate with the feds and that includes four members of the white-nationalist-friendly Oath Keepers group. 

Most charges so far involve assault or bodily injury to an officer with a dangerous weapon. The Metropolitan Police Department has reported that at least 150 officers were wounded on Jan. 6. 

So far, testimony delivered to Congress by the top watchdog for the U.S. Capitol Police has confirmed that outdated guidance for standard operating procedures, failure to conduct “stop-and-contact activities” the night before the attack based on intelligence and a sweeping number of insufficient resources spanning all departments all contributed to lax Capitol security on Jan. 6. 

Threats that piled up on online message boards, including invitations to “occupy the Capitol,” were omitted by some accounts and ignored in others, and this in particular is expected to be focused on sharply next week.

Cutting through politicization will be key to getting to the bottom of the unprecedented attack, though, for the police on the front lines, there is no real debate to be had. 

In an interview in the wake of the attack, Hodges told NBC: “The cognitive dissonance and zealotry of these people [who attacked the Capitol] is unreal because they were waving the thin blue line flag, calling us traitors and themselves patriots and then beating us with flags.”

One man, Hodges said, told him that he “paid for his gear” and should give it to him right then. 

“We had alleged veterans telling us they fought for our country and they would never hurt us, but they were there, hurting us. We had usual conspiracy theorists there, telling us they were traitors in there we should go arrest congress... If it wasn't my job, I would have done that for free. It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection.”

Follow Brandi Buchman and Jack Rodgers on Twitter

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit