‘I DON’T GET IT’

Capitol Cop: GOP’s Ridiculous New Riot Defense Is ‘Hurtful’

Officer Harry Dunn’s comments follow a surreal hearing during which Republicans seemed not to trust their own eyes.

Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is disgusted by Republican lawmakers’ claim this week that Trump supporters were the real victims of the Jan. 6 siege, and most acted more like tourists visiting the Capitol. Five people—including one Capitol cop—died and some 140 cops were injured amid the riot. “They were there with a purpose to hurt people, and they had bad intentions,” Dunn told CNN. “It just hurts to believe that people can think that it was a normal day, it was a tour. It’s hurtful. It’s hurtful that they can say things like that when we had officers give their life to make sure that they were safe. It’s just hurtful.” If the “thousands of hours of footage” doesn’t convince people of what happened, then nothing will, he said. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand.”

Last month, another Capitol cop told The Daily Beast they’re still unprepared for another attack. “When you lose a football game, you go in the next day and you talk about what the fuck went wrong,” said the officer. “Would you fucking believe that it’s been three goddamn months and they have yet to talk to the officers to say, ‘Hey listen, moving forward this is what we need you guys to do, these are our expectations, this is where you draw the line in the sand.’ We lost the fucking Capitol, and they aren’t doing shit.”