Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who helped defend the Capitol and the people inside of it against rioting Trump supporters last January, has now publicly spoken out for the first time since that harrowing incident. At one point, Goodman faced off alone against a group of rioters in the vicinity of the Senate chamber, and he has been widely credited with leading that group away from the chamber, further helping keep Senators (and others) safe. At one point, Goodman was also seen on camera leading Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — a frequent target of Trump and his supporters — away from the riot crowd.
Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman speaks out publicly for first time since January 6:
"It could have easily been a bloodbath so kudos to everybody there that showed a measure of restraint with regards to deadly force," he says on @BrothersSense pod https://t.co/QZlMy7bVOr
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 25, 2022
Goodman made his first public comments about this whole ordeal on an episode of the “3 Brothers No Sense” podcast, which includes Goodman’s own co-worker Byron “Buff” Evans as one of its co-hosts. Goodman was broadly hailed for his actions on the day of the riot — and he even escorted then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the day of the presidential and vice presidential inaugurations last January, but Goodman said that he “[keeps] asking myself that question every day, like who the hell am I?” Goodman was also on the cover of TIME magazine at one point.
"They lock eyes on me right away, just like that, I was in it,” Goodman said, describing the moment he came face-to-face with a mob near the Senate doors. https://t.co/WAGtweZwHh
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) January 25, 2022
Goodman shared in the interview that, when he encountered that infamous crowd of rioters in the Capitol building, he was surprised that they’d made it that far. As he explained:
‘I honestly didn’t know they were that far up into the building… [I thought] aw hell, they’re actually in the building. They lock eyes on me right away and just like that, I was in it. It wasn’t a matter of let me leave them alone or not. I feel like they would have followed me anyway… I was just in go mode, you know what I mean?.. Any situation like that you want to de-escalate but at the same time you want to survive first… You never know. It could have easily been a bloodbath so kudos to everybody there that showed a measure of restraint with regards to deadly force, ’cause it could have been bad. Really, really bad.’
Officer Eugene Goodman on Jan. 6:
"It could have easily been a bloodbath. So kudos to everybody there that showed a measure of restraint with regards to deadly force because it could have been bad. Really, really bad.”
w/ @AnthonyAdragnahttps://t.co/QltVIbdGIv
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) January 25, 2022
Goodman’s attention to his duties as a police officer obviously strikingly contrasts with what Trump did that day. Once the then-president finally spoke out, his comments included telling the rioters that they were “very special,” among other things. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — who has gone on to serve as the vice chair on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot — was onto something when she said last January that Trump “could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not,” adding: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” Goodman’s commitment delivers inherent shame on Trump and the numerous Republicans who have enabled him.
In this @BrothersSense interview (https://t.co/j8bzXv2CCu), Ofc. Eugene Goodman says he heard later people were armed but didn't know for sure. Note the person ID'd leading the mob chasing Goodman, Douglas Jensen, is charged w/ having a knife at the time https://t.co/ztjAW0u46u pic.twitter.com/98xppzsXT0
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) January 25, 2022
