WASHINGTON — Police officers who protected the U.S. capital during an hours-long attack by Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, are going the way of Kamala Harris in hopes of keeping the former president, who has faced criminal charges over his bid to stay in office by lying about the last election, from winning back the White House.
Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell and current Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel “Danny” Hodges will show their support for Harris and presumptive vice presidential nominee Tim Walz by joining the Democratic campaign in the coming days. for the first time since the presidency Joe Biden dropped from the top of the ticket less than three weeks ago.
Dunn and Hodges are in Michigan this week visiting Grand Rapids, Flint and Detroit, and members of the group will soon travel elsewhere, including North Carolina and Georgia, Harris’ campaign told NBC News. According to the Biden-Walz campaign, the officials met with elected officials and community leaders during the trips to highlight the urgent and immediate threat Trump poses to democracy.
Dunn told NBC News that his message will not change after Biden’s resignation, but that he is very excited to campaign for Harris, whom Dunn knows from his work at the Capitol.
“He was always talking to us because he was a former prosecutor. He liked law enforcement, so he was always talking to the Capitol Police,” Dunn said.
“Donald Trump, being a criminal himself, wants to pardon other criminals,” Dunn said, referring to Trump’s 34-felony conviction for which he will be sentenced as soon as Sept. 18. “The fact that he’s going up against the prosecutor, it couldn’t be more fairytale-like.”
Hodges, who is back on the job after returning to Washington after his trip to Michigan, told NBC News that as a veteran, it was “really cool” to have a former recruit like Walz on the ticket.
“I’m happy to see all this energy and positivity in the Democratic Party. I think the Harris-Walz ticket is really strong,” Hodges said. “The stakes are incredibly high in this election, and Donald Trump remains the enemy of democracy and indeed the United States, and our best chance to defeat him is to vote for Harris and Walz.”
Hodges, who was brutally attacked in the lower west tunnel of the Capitol complex on January 6, called Harris and Walz “powerful benevolent forces” in the country, saying they would be the right people to vote for, even if they weren’t. Against Trump. He said he was grateful for Biden’s work and was glad to see that the transition between Biden and Harris was so smooth.
“I’m incredibly grateful for everything Biden has done for this country, and I know it wasn’t an easy decision for him to make,” Hodges said. “But it seems to be going well and I sincerely hope we can keep the energy up.”
Trump is still sticking to his false claims from the last election, even as many of his own supporters, who face criminal consequences for their actions on the 6th. January, have told federal judges that they now feel like “idiots” who were cheated and manipulated, regretting that they lacked IQ or critical thinking skills see through the lies.
Others still believe Trump’s false claims – including a rioter in a MAGA hat who shouted “Trump won!” after he was convicted of driving a stun gun into the neck of former DC Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone — and more when he relied on Trump’s election in November to avoid criminal culpability for their actions. Fanone’s mother was also targeted in May after Fanone spoke outside Trump’s New York trial and referred to the former president as an “authoritarian” with a “violence fetish.”
Dunn said it was clear on previous trips that even some of the local reporters he spoke with didn’t have a full understanding of what happened on Jan. 6.
“Honestly, not everybody knows. We would assume that people would know when they live here, but in Middle America, the average American, the average voter, [it’s about] to make them realize that Donald Trump is the biggest threat to our democracy,” Dunn said. “People really don’t understand what happened that day, and to be able to tell them as a first-hand witness is refreshing and it’s encouraging that people are willing to take against.”
More than 1,400 defendants have been indicted in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and prosecutors have won more than 1,000 convictions. Hundreds of defendants have received probation, but more than 500 have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
