Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn has had the identical objective 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 struggle continues to go on,” Dunn instructed HuffPost. “We’re at all times having, it appears, to indicate up, only a few folks, to remind America or push again in opposition to politicians saying, ‘We have to transfer on from Jan. 6.’ However we will’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 in all 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 in opposition to 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 have been “serving to” him and different officers to quell the mob that day.
He was deeply annoyed when Trump’s victory within the 2024 election put an finish to former particular counsel Jack Smith’s legal case in opposition to Trump. The case was dismissed with out prejudice, which implies it will possibly technically be introduced once more. It’s an extended shot, however Dunn is an optimist.
“There’s nonetheless a chance 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 “in opposition to the lies and whitewashing.” Trump has repeatedly claimed, together with on Tuesday, that Jan. 6, 2021, was a “day of affection” or that individuals lawfully prosecuted and convicted for crimes on the Capitol have been “hostages” and “political prisoners.” Certainly one of 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 in opposition to 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 cast off that historical past and paint Jan. 6 as a positive 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 by 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 based on 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 filled 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 fascinated with ensuring the individuals who enabled and supported Donald Trump don’t see workplace,” he stated. “People who find themselves working for workplace across the nation which can be supporters of Donald Trump and toting a MAGA endorsement, I wish to get them out of workplace. That’s what accountability appears to be like prefer to me now.”
