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Harry Dunn knows about sacrifice. He and fellow members of the U.S. Capitol Police have been recognized for their heroism in facing off with violent insurrectionists looking to prevent the transition of power from Trump to Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.
In the time since, Dunn has become an author, public speaker and mental health advocate in his personal capacity, using the attention he has garnered for even more good.
I spoke with him Thursday, as much of America awaited the potential announcement of federal charges against Trump related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including Jan. 6. In the morning, Dunn posted some thoughts.
“If it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive,” he tweeted. “With that said maybe I can put it on layaway. #Exhausted.”
It was a sober take on a moment many people have been waiting for — and there’s no one I wanted to speak with more. The following excerpts are from our conversation.
On a potential Trump indictment:
Indictments are only a part of the way to justice. Real justice is what? A guilty verdict. With an indictment — just say the trial doesn’t happen ’til after the election, and say Trump wins. You know that s--- goes away if he wins, right? So if that happens, is that justice? ‘We got the indictment! We got justice!’ No, we didn’t. So it’s a mile marker on the way to justice — it’s what should happen when somebody breaks the law. You get investigated, you get indicted, you get convicted, you get sentenced. That’s f---ing justice.
On his tweet Thursday morning:
I posted that because this whole thing about Jan. 6 — it’s exhausting. I mean, it’s been 933 days. Nine hundred and thirty-three days. And it has cost me my peace. And that’s expensive. That’s why I included the caveat. Like, I’ve got to put this on layaway, because it’s too important to let it go.
On Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the Black election workers in Georgia who were targeted by Trump and his then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani with election lies:
I’ve gotten a chance to meet them twice. Once at the Jan. 6 hearing, when they did testify. Another time at the White House, when President Biden bestowed upon us the Presidential Citizens Medal. And, you know, one thing I just wanted to offer to them was my support. When you’re going through something like this — which I have learned — you don’t feel like there’s anybody that’s got you, even though there’s an entire world out there, with a majority of people who support you and will hold you down. But the naysayers and antagonists — they’re the loudest. That’s how I feel about the whole Jan. 6 thing. The naysayers are the loudest, but the people that support us are our majority, and we need to focus on them more.
On Giuliani now admitting that he lied about Freeman and Moss:
It’s too little, too late, man. You already ruined people’s lives. And you didn’t just figure out lies. Of course he knew from Day One that it was a lie. So, now 900, nearly 1,000 days later, you want to have this epiphany and say, “I was wrong.” Words matter from the jump. That’s why you need to be thoughtful. And think about what you’re saying from the jump. Because words matter. He did that — not because he believes it, but because he knew there was an audience for that. And he exploited that. He did it because he knew that would evoke people to respond like they did on Jan. 6.
