U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn went on MSNBC Thursday to discuss recent developments in the work of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. On-air, Dunn seemingly pointed out the scope of deception displayed by those put under scrutiny, including those who’ve downplayed what happened.
As Dunn explained his thoughts:
‘My reaction initially about the entire hearings so far [is], like Joe said earlier in this show, a lot of people are lying. I believe that’s why it’s extremely important that the committee is doing this work. A lot of the members on the committee have stated that they are following the facts, and this is a fact-finding committee. And that’s why — you’ve heard there’s three sides to every story, your side, my side, and the truth, and I think that’s why it’s very important to get to the truth about what’s going on, about everything that’s happening.’
Asked about the contrast between pro-police rhetoric from Republicans and what happened at the Capitol, Dunn added as follows:
‘It’s just rhetoric, and it’s just talking points. They say it because it sounds good, not because they actually believe what they’re saying. It just exposes hypocrisy that is kind of like, do what they want you to do, do what they say, unless you’re doing your job [and] get in the way — like, they called us traitors. We were called traitors because we did our job, and it’s really infuriating. Officer Edwards, when she testified about being called a traitor — she takes her job extremely seriously, like a majority of those police officers do. They take it serious, they take their oath serious. And for somebody to be called a traitor, because we stopped you from doing something illegal — it’s infuriating.’
Check out Dunn’s comments below:
Witnesses at the Thursday public hearing of the January 6 committee in the House included Greg Jacob, who was general counsel to then-Vice President Mike Pence at the time of the Capitol riot and advocated against plans calling for Pence to somehow block electoral votes Biden won. Revelations about John Eastman, a then-attorney to Trump, also figured prominently in the Thursday hearing — infamously, Eastman was involved in outlining nonsensical plans by which Biden’s win could supposedly be blocked, although key plans were dependent on Pence’s participation.
As previously reported here, former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann told the riot panel in private testimony shared via video footage at Thursday’s hearing that Eastman indicated to him ahead of January 6 he was willing to accept violence to alter the outcome of the presidential race. The former White House lawyer indicated his then-belief to Eastman that the Trump lawyer’s schemes by which Pence could supposedly upend the certification of the election outcome would lead to violence. “And [Eastman] said words to the effect of, ‘There’s been violence in the history of our country in order to protect the democracy, or to protect the republic,’” according to Herschmann’s testimony. In addition, Eastman apparently admitted before then-President Trump the Pence-dependent plot would violate federal law.
