WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats begin their investigation into the assault on the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday by targeting security agents who engaged the insurgents on Jan. 6 in an attempt to put a human face on the violent events of that day.
The police officers who are about to testify before the investigative commission were the ones who faced the worst brutality: they were beaten, trampled, pushed and sprayed with irritants. They were victims of racist insults and threatened with their own weapons while the mob of supporters of then President Donald Trump stormed the premises, knocking down windows and doors in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“We are going to tell this story from the beginning,” said Jamie Raskin, a Democratic Representative from Maryland who is on the commission of inquiry.
“The center of moral gravity of these events were these officers who risked their lives to protect us,” he added.
Speaking at the hearing will be Capitol Police Officers Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell, and Metropolitan Police Officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.
In previous interviews, Dunn has said that the insurgents yelled racist insults at him and physically grappled with him as he tried to repel the attack. Gonell, a veteran of the Iraq war, said he was so injured that he had to undergo surgery on his foot and that he never fully recovered. Fanone has recounted how the rebels dragged him down some stairs, beat him and shot him with a stun gun. Hodges was beaten and squeezed between two doors; her bloody face and anguished screams were caught on video.
The commission’s first hearing comes at a time when Republicans are downplaying and sometimes even outright denying the facts and calling the commission biased toward Democrats. Democrats are determined to use the investigation to remind the country of the seriousness of what happened and how the guards who are responsible for ensuring the security of the Capitol were seriously injured by the assailants.
“What we want to show with these hearings is what the reality was like for these brave police officers on the front lines,” said Adam Schiff, a Democratic representative who is part of the commission.
“We want to show how they were totally overwhelmed and how militarized the members of the mob of insurgents were,” he added.
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