How much do Democrats want to keep lies about the severity of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion alive? So willing that they’re likely going to vault a verified liar and “hero” Capitol cop to electoral prominence.
For those who watched the Jan. 6 kangaroo court hearings, you might remember the name Harry Dunn. He was the police officer who cried during testimony to the House Select Committee that could only be believed by the most credulous observer.
Now, the lachrymose Dunn, who’s already been awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal and a Congressional Gold Medal, is running for Congress — and rest assured, his febrile account of the events of that day will be a huge part of (if not, perhaps, the only part of) his platform.
“I like to live by the phrase, ‘Until there’s nothing that can be done, there’s always something that can be done,’” Dunn said in an interview after announcing his bid for Congress on Friday, according to Politico. “As a Capitol Police officer, I did all that I can do in that role to protect, defend, and preserve democracy. But that is exhausted now.”
“This moment that we are in requires everybody to step up and step into their role in defending and preserving democracy, and I’m stepping into mine right now,” he told The Associated Press. “I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that we are one election cycle away from extinction of democracy as we know it today.”
Sigh. Yes, this again.
Sadly, Dunn — a 15-year veteran of the Capitol police who retired last month — becomes the highest-profile name in the bid to replace retiring Maryland Democrat Rep. John Sarbanes; considering that Sarbanes’ 3rd District is so liberal that he’s never taken home less than 60 percent of the vote, according to Ballotpedia, the primary is effectively the general election.
Which is to say that, if all goes to plan, Maryland voters will be sending a notable Jan. 6 reality denier to the lower chamber in November.
Here’s his video, released on social media along with a caption promising that he’s “running for Congress to stop Trump’s MAGA extremists & ensure it [Jan. 6] never happens again.”
On January 6th, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer. After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Today, I’m running for Congress to stop Trump’s MAGA extremists & ensure it never happens again.
Join me:… pic.twitter.com/5G3rd90O45
— Harry Dunn (@libradunn) January 5, 2024
“I saw the carnage and violence of January 6 with my own eyes. So trust me when I say, we are dangerously close to something like the January 6 Insurrection happening again,” Dunn said on his donation page on liberal fundraising website ActBlue.
“That’s why we’ve GOT to protect our democracy from MAGA-extremists. We cannot allow politicians in Congress that will embolden their savagery.”
To be fair, one cannot judge a candidate properly by his or her campaign ads, considering that campaign ads are (if they work, anyway) composed of oversimplifications and empurpled imagery designed to evoke the emotions, not the reason. So, let’s look at what Mr. Dunn had to say before he became a congressional candidate.
For instance:
Claim: Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who passed away on Jan. 6, “died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy.” That’s from Dunn’s testimony before the House Select Committee.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn calls for a moment of silence “for my fallen colleague, officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy” https://t.co/2RJjqvCz6u pic.twitter.com/iTF7sAXsLI
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 27, 2021
Reality: Sicknick died from a series of strokes during the incursion, strokes that the medical officer’s office determined were unrelated to his duty at the Capitol that day. At the time of Dunn’s July 2021 testimony, this fact was well known by anyone who wanted to know it.
Claim: Those who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 gathered around Dunn, who is black, and started chanting the n-word. During Dunn’s testimony, according to TheBlaze, he estimated that “20, 30, 40, 50 people” gathered around him and started repeating the slur.
Reality: Video evidence of the Capitol incursion doesn’t support Dunn’s account in any substantive way. If there was anyone who had a particularly vulgar mouth that day, moreover, it was Officer Dunn, who was captured on bodycam video yelling at protesters who were nowhere near him and threatening them with his firearm, an M4 carbine.
“You’ll be finished … in one f***ing minute,” Dunn shouted. “You’re f***ing hurting us. Get the f*** out of here! Get the f*** out of here! You’re hurting us! You’re hurting us!”
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Claim: Dunn suffered emotional distress so severe from the events of Jan. 6 that he needed to seek professional help. “If January 6 hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have gone through the mental anguish that I did and that I am still working through with counseling,” he wrote in his book “Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6.”
Reality: While one has no doubt that Dunn — and a great many others — suffered emotional anguish due to the events of the Capitol incursion, it’s worth noting that he admits later in “Standing My Ground” that he’s had episodes of emotional issues dating back to his teen years.
“I may have been more open to counseling because therapy was normal to me,” he wrote. “I had gone through it when I was in middle school, around age thirteen or fourteen.” As for the reasons why he was put into therapy by his parents? “One was anger issues,” he said. “I had good intentions. … I just couldn’t control my emotions. Sometimes, I really got out of hand.”
Considering that one of the more startling admissions Dunn made during his testimony before the Jan. 6 committee was that he pushed a “particular rioter wheezing against the wall” who “couldn’t breathe because he was overcome with pepper spray.” That’s more than a little telling. Given that Dunn would have no reason to relay this less-than-exculpatory evidence unless it were true, the officer’s anger management issues are fair game for the public arena.
Then there’s Dunn’s record as a keyboard activist even before the events of Jan. 6, 2021. For instance, called the “fiery but mostly peaceful” riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin an “appropriate response to murder” on social media. That’s bad enough even if you don’t remember that the subject of the Kenosha riots, Jacob Blake, is still very alive after a police shooting that was ruled justified. (Video shows Blake quite obviously reaching for a weapon in his vehicle when he was wounded by police.)
Harry Dunn said the burning of Kenosha was an ‘appropriate response’ pic.twitter.com/b5MRPnuPK4
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 28, 2021
He can’t even be trusted to figure out when someone’s still alive, evidently, or who the real bad guys are.
That’s important, because now he’s seeking election based solely on a platform of finding out who the bad guys are and ferreting them out. Given his propensity to fudge the facts, put himself at the center of events and lack comprehension regarding what’s right and what’s wrong, why on earth should voters trust him?
The answer, unfortunately, is all too evident: Democrats trust Harry Dunn because he says what they want to hear, especially about Jan. 6. It was the gravest day in the history of our republic — and democracy is under threat again if we don’t elect who they tell us to. He fits right in. And soon enough, one fears, we’ll be calling him Rep. Dunn, not Officer Dunn.
