A Capitol Police officer who was part of the response to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol says he experienced racist abuse from a crowd of rioters who had broken into the building.
Harry Dunn, who is Black, told The New York Times for a report published Thursday that about 20 people called him a racist slur after one rioter initiated the chants in response to Dunn’s declaration that he had voted for President Biden in the November election. The exact language the rioters used was not detailed in the report.
“They’re saying, ‘Trump is our rightful president. Nobody voted for Joe Biden.’ I needed to catch my breath. So I said, ‘I voted for Joe Biden. What? My vote doesn’t matter?’ ” Dunn told the newspaper.
“A woman responded, ‘This [slur] voted for Joe Biden!’ Everybody that was there started joining in. ‘Hey, [slur]!’ It was over 20 people who said it,” he added.
Dunn’s account of the racism he faced during the Capitol siege was revealed publicly this week, though lawmakers had cited it during the Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Trump.
Seven Republicans broke with their party and voted to convict Trump of inciting the attack on the Capitol, short of the 17 needed to reach a two-thirds threshold in the chamber.
Dunn told ABC News in a separate interview earlier this week that he saw people assaulting police officers with pro-law enforcement “Blue Lives Matter” flags during the attack, which left dozens of Capitol Police officers injured. One officer died from injuries suffered during the riot.
“I got called a [N-word] a couple dozen times … protecting this building,” Dunn told ABC News on Monday. “Is this America? They beat police officers with Blue Lives Matter flags. They fought us, they had Confederate flags in the U.S. Capitol.”
Dunn’s latest comments come as the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Senate Rules Committee held a joint hearing Tuesday to investigate how rioters overwhelmed police during the attack and how relevant agencies should respond in the future.