Daniel Hodges and Harry Dunn, police officers who served at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, discussed President Donald Trump’s recent pardons and the ramifications of political violence at an event with Kennedy Political Union and the School of Communication on Jan. 30.
Jane Hall, an associate professor of journalism at American University, moderated the event and spoke with Hodges and Dunn about their experience protecting the Capitol against rioters, who sought to overturn the 2020 election, and the misinformation that has spread since.
Four years later, Trump pardoned the same insurrectionists that attacked Hodges and Dunn, including members of the extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
“It was very predictable but depressing to see in real time,” Hodges said in reference to the pardons.
Rioters crushed Hodges, who still serves with the Metropolitan Police Department, and shoved him against the Capitol walls and doors with stolen police shields on Jan. 6. One hundred forty were injured in the attack as rioters beat police with bats and flag poles, and officer Brian Sicknick died from his injuries a day later. According to Politico, four other officers suffering from trauma from the attack died by suicide in the months that followed the insurrection.
Dunn, who has retired from the U.S. Capitol Police and wrote a book titled “Standing My Ground,” said he was disappointed in many people’s reaction to the pardons.
“If you were shocked you weren’t paying attention,” Dunn said regarding the predictability of the pardons.
Hodges and Dunn both testified in front of the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Jan. 6 insurrection, and they were preemptively pardoned by former President Joe Biden in fear of retribution from Trump and his supporters.
Hodges and Dunn said they are not afraid of the insurrectionists, some of whom promised revenge.
“I’m not going to let them control me,” Dunn said in reference to any threats from the rioters.
In late 2022, the Select Committee released its much anticipated report on the insurrection, concluding that Trump had incited the attempted overthrow of the certification of the election.
“He just sat there and watched us get assaulted on TV,” Hodges said, referencing Trump’s inaction as rioters stormed the Capitol.
Both Hodges and Dunn voiced their concerns for Trump's potential abuses of executive power, referring to his mass pardons and recent federal funding freeze, which Trump rescinded after nationwide panic.
“Trump has a militia on call right now,” Dunn said. “What happened on January 6th could happen again.”
Hodges said one of the biggest battles he continues to fight is the amount of conspiracies many Americans believe about the insurrection. In 2022, 44 percent of Americans believed that the insurrection was not an attack on democracy and that the country needed to move on, according to a poll done by the Brookings Institute. A quarter of the public still falsely believes that the FBI incited the attacks.
“We’re here because it is still tragically relevant,” Hodges said. “I’m in this unique position to make sure that truth has a voice.”
Hodges said many of these lies continue to be perpetuated within mainstream Republican politics, with Republicans denouncing the insurrectionists but endorsing Trump’s candidacy.
“People don’t want to come to terms with the fact that their identity revolves around a group that attacked the U.S. Capitol,” Hodges said in reference to many Republican supporters.
Dunn said he is also disappointed in the Democratic party, especially in the delays the Justice Department took in holding the insurrectionists to account. Although Hodges acknowledged that The National Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed Trump multiple times, he wished that Democratic supporters would stop assuming that all law enforcement supports Trump.
For Dunn and Hodges, every day of their lives has been shaped by the events of Jan. 6, and their fight to prevent an insurrection from happening again began on Jan. 7.
Despite the mental exhaustion this struggle brings, Dunn and Hodges said they won’t give up. They advise AU students to continue holding onto hope for the next four years.
“The alternative is too bleak if we don’t, we have to believe we can get back to where we were again,” Hodges said.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Hannah Langenfeld and Ella Rousseau.
