Insurrection Hearings

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Four police officers testified Tuesday about the physical and verbal assaults they faced responding to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in a highly emotional hearing.

The four officers — Pfc. Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police, and Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department — each gave opening statements and answered questions from committee members.

Gonell recounted the events of that day and the impact it has had on law enforcement officers: "For most people, Jan. 6 happened for a few hours," he said. "But for those of us who were in the thick of it, it has not ended."

The Metropolitan Police's Fanone described his experience heading to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to assist the Capitol Police. He said the scene he found as he worked his way to the Capitol's West Front, where thousands of rioters were violently clashing with police, was "nothing short of brutal."

Fanone decried those in Congress who are "downplaying or outright denying what happened" that day, saying, "I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them."

"The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!" Fanone shouted as he pounded the witness table. "Nothing, truly nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day. And in doing so betray their oath of office."

Hodges repeatedly called the members of the mob attack on the Capitol "terrorists" and later, when pressed on why he used that term, cited the section of U.S. Code defining domestic terrorism.

The Capitol Police's Dunn said he was in the speaker's lobby outside the House chamber when one of the insurrectionists said that "Trump invited us here" and that Donald Trump was still the president.

"Nobody voted for Joe Biden," Dunn said the man told him. Dunn said he responded that he had voted for President Biden, asking, "Does my vote not count?"

He told the panel a woman in a pink MAGA shirt then yelled, "You hear that guys? This n***** voted for Joe Biden." Dunn said that the crowd of around 20 people joined in screaming, "Boo, f****** n*****!" Dunn continued, "No one had ever, ever called me a n***** while wearing the uniform of a Capitol Police officer."

Lawmakers asked the officers what they wanted the panel to investigate. Fanone cited the "Stop the Steal" rally headlined by Trump ahead of the insurrection.

"The time, the place, circumstances of that rally, that rhetoric, and those events to me leads in the direction of our president," he said.

Fanone said he also hoped the committee would look in to whether there was collaboration between members of Congress, "their staff and these terrorists."

Hodges added he hoped the committee would investigate "if anyone in power had a role in this, if anyone in power coordinated, or aided and abetted, or tried to downplay, tried to prevent the investigation of this terrorist attack."

Dunn said he uses the analogy of an investigation into a mob hit to describe what he hopes for from the committee. "If a hit man is hired and he kills somebody, the hit man goes to jail. But not only does the hit man go to jail, but the person who hired him does," Dunn said, adding, "I want you to get to the bottom of that."

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gave impassioned opening remarks, describing the threat to democracy and blasting those who have dismissed the magnitude of what happened on Jan. 6.

"Some people are trying to deny what happened. To whitewash it. To turn the insurrectionists into martyrs," Thompson said. "But the whole world saw the reality of what happened on Jan. 6. The hangman's gallows sitting out there on our [National] Mall. The flag of that first failed and disgraced rebellion against our union, being paraded through the Capitol. The hatred. The bigotry. The violence."

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of two GOP House members whom Speaker Nancy Pelosi named to the panel, also gave an opening statement, saying the committee must look into Trump's actions that day.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of two GOP House members whom Speaker Nancy Pelosi named to the panel, also gave an opening statement, saying the committee must look into Trump's actions that day.

"We cannot leave the violence of Jan. 6 and its causes uninvestigated. We must know what happened here in the Capitol. We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House. Every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack.

"Honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward.

"If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic".