Harry Dunn
Police officer Harry Dunn was on duty when the United States Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021. Alongside fellow officers, he fought to protect Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress, and the Capitol itself. He later described scenes of extraordinary violence—officers bleeding, assaulted with chemical sprays and flagpoles as they battled a Trump-inspired mob. In congressional testimony, Dunn recounted the barrage of racial epithets directed at him as a Black officer.
A lie repeated often enough becomes truth. Almost immediately, right-wing politicians and commentators began minimizing or rewriting what had happened. Dunn had personally known some of the members of Congress he protected, only to watch many of them later downplay an attack he had experienced firsthand.
Dunn could have quietly returned to his job. Instead, he became one of the officers most determined to bear witness to say, in effect: I was there. I know what happened. Do not pretend otherwise. He spoke extensively to journalists, testified publicly, and entered the national debate over January 6. He eventually told his story in Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, which became a New York Times bestseller.
His willingness to speak out was especially striking given the politics of law enforcement. Dunn has noted the overwhelming support Donald Trump received in the 2024 election from state lodges of the Fraternal Order of Police, underscoring how difficult it is for an officer to challenge the political narrative surrounding January 6.
There is something quintessentially American in Dunn’s response: he witnessed an assault on democratic government and concluded that he had an obligation not merely to defend the Capitol, but to defend the truth. Dunn retired from the Capitol Police in 2023 and later entered public life, unsuccessfully seeking a Maryland congressional seat in 2024.
Harry Dunn demonstrated physical courage on January 6. His moral and civic courage emerged afterward, when he refused to allow others to erase what he had seen with his own eyes. His actions brought considerable recognition, including the Presidential Citizens Medal and honors associated with the Congressional Gold Medal awarded for the defense of the Capitol.
"If a hit man is hired and he kills somebody, the hit man goes to jail. Not only does the hit man go to jail, but the person who hired the hit does. There was an attack carried out on Jan. 6, and a man sent them on that hit."
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 10, 2025