Three police officers who defended the Capitol during a deadly riot on Jan. 6 will help President Joe Biden’s campaign in battleground states ahead of next month’s debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Former Sgt Aquilino Gonella former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and a Metropolitan police officer Daniel “Danny” Hodges He will campaign in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire, according to a campaign press release.
Officers will meet with local elected officials, law enforcement organizations and community members to highlight Trump’s threat to democracy and the “continued threat of political violence” if Trump is re-elected, the release said.
On Tuesday, Dunn was joined by a former DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone – who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury after being viciously attacked during the Capitol attack – and actor Robert De Niro Press conference Campaign held by Biden outside the Manhattan courthouse Trump’s silence trial is happening.
During the press conference, Dunn argued that Trump continues to pose the “greatest threat” to democracy as he seeks a second term in office.
“For many of us, the fight didn’t end on Jan. 6 when we went home that evening. The fight is still going on,” Dunn said. “What happened that day was an attempt to stop the election, to overturn it. Donald Trump is the biggest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today, he has encouraged and continues to encourage political violence.”
“Political violence is never acceptable. But you have a presidential candidate, you have a presidential candidate who defends him, encourages him and supports him,” he added. “We can’t have that.”
In a statement included in the Biden campaign’s news release, Dunn noted that Trump had gone so far as to say there would be a “pool of blood” if he lost again, and that he would become a dictator “on day one” and promised to pardon the January 6 rioters. “
“Donald Trump only cares about Donald Trump, so in November Americans will reject his extremism once and for all and re-elect the only candidate in the race who is fighting to protect our democracy and stand up for law enforcement: Joe Biden. he added.
At the press conference, Fanone recalled being “savagely attacked” by Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, and stressed that Trump supporters were “inflamed by Trump’s lies and his attorneys’ lies that the 2020 election was stolen.”
“At the end of the day, this election is about Donald Trump and his vision of the presidency of the United States as an authoritarian, not as a civil servant who answers to the electorate, the people who elected him. which answers and serves only itself,” Fanone said.
De Niro said hopes a new campaign ad he reminds Trump supporters of the “threat” the former president poses, condemning the mob that stormed the Capitol and left “death and destruction in its wake.”
“That’s why I had to participate in the new Biden-Harris ad, and I wanted to participate, because it shows Trump’s violence and is a reminder that he will use violence against anyone who gets in the way of his megalomania and greed. De Niro said.
ad called “Broke” There’s the voice of De Niro, who describes Trump as someone who is “incompetently trying to hold on to power” after losing the 2020 election and running to be a “dictator” in the 2024 campaign.
“Trump wants revenge and will stop at nothing to get it,” De Niro says in the ad.
The Trump campaign responded to the Biden campaign’s press conference with its own response made statements to journalists at the same location outside the courthouse. General counsel Jason Miller and spokespeople Carolyn Leavitt and Stephen Cheung maintained that Trump did nothing wrong in the hush money case, echoing claims by Judge Juan Merca, who oversaw it, that the trial was an attempt to interfere in the election by Democrats. very contradictory.”
“They make a political mockery of it all,” Cheung said. “The fact is that President Trump is going to take it, he’s going to fight these charges up and down, and nothing is going to stop the truth from coming out.”
The three officers spoke publicly about their bitter experiences fighting Capitol rioters amid then-President Trump’s claims of election rigging and his refusal to concede his loss.
Dunn, a 15-year veteran of the Capitol Police He lost his candidacy in the Democratic primary for a seat in the US House of Representatives Maryland This month secured frequent appearances on cable news programs emotional testimony Before a January 6 House committee hearing, he wrote a book about the Capitol attack and his life.
Gonell, who was injured in the attack on the Capitol, also testified before a House committee on January 6 about his initial statement about the violence of the riot. During his testimony, Gonell called the attack a “coup attempt” and recalled rioters calling the officers traitors and shouting that he should be executed.
There was also Gonell Kyle testified at Fitzsimons’ trialConvicted of attacking Gonel during the January 6 attack.
Hodges, who He testified before the January 6 Committee of the House of Representativeswas Crushed by the pro-Trump crowd inside the tunnel leading to the Capitol during the attack. He sought medical attention after being assaulted at the Capitol, the video was later released at the Jan. 6 House Committee public hearing. That too went to court for the trial of several Capitol defendants.