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decisions are made, and the nation scorched -- nations course is charted. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> current and former capitol police officers join democratic lawmakers at a conference to discuss guarding the capital and the impact of the president's partings. -- pardons. this briefing is just over 40 minutes. overage on c-span2. convicted criminals to storm the

capitol on january 62021 violently attacked law enforcement officers injuring more than 170 of them including two who are here today with us officer daniel hodges and retired officer harry dunn. the pardoned defendants convicted criminals all of those who were convicted of course were convicted by either a unanimous jury of 12 or they admitted guilt and it included more than 600 who were charged with violent offenses. yet on monday donald trump decided he wants to whitewash history, pretend the riots of january 6 never happened and that it was simply a peaceful

walk through the capitol. unfortunately for him video and photographs don't lie. we have all seen the video. we have all seen the video of officer hodges in the well of the capitol having his gas mask ripped off. we have seen the video of officer for known who was carried outside and tased by one of the defendants, one of the criminals who was released. and not surprisingly those who have been released have made their intentions clear. these are far right violent extremists who have engaged in political violence. now set free by the president of the united states and encouraged

emboldened, inspired to not only fight on his behalf but to commit violence on his behalf. this is effectively a militia that donald trump has created to support his political wishes and his personal wishes which are always overlapped with his political wishes. we are here today to emphasize a couple first and foremost donald trump's pardons are complete abandonment of all of the men and women in law enforcement around this country. capital police officers the metropolitan police department officers who have protected the capitol that day and protected members of congress, senators and the vice president put their lives on the line to do their

jobs. and the riders that donald trump sent to the capitol invaded that capital and assaulted many of the officers on their way. you cannot say you back the blue if you are going to let out of jail violent criminals who assaulted the blue. so i don't want to hear donald trump or any of the congressional republicans who refused to speak out against these unjust and unconscionable pardons and say that they support our law enforcement officers because they do not. we now are all here in the capitol building, where some of those defendants were walking

today. having to wonder whether they are going to reenact the violence that they committed on january 6. officer hodges works here today. we all work here. what impact is that going to have because if there's a single member of congress who starts worrying about his or her safety or that of the family's safety and that impacts the job that they do in any way, that is how democracy tumbles and that's how authoritarianism takes over. if their personal safety concerns that influence the way that we elect officials to do our job and we cannot represent our constituents in the way that we took an oath to do, and that's not because of us. that's because donald trump set out a metal isha -- militia on

this body and on this building. we rely on officer hodges and other capital police to protect us. it's simply unacceptable that the president of united states would release so many violent criminals, so many people some of whom are convicted of malicious conspiracy is simply unacceptable only her bring light to that. i'm honored to be joined by three other members congresswoman christie houlahan from pennsylvania congressman jason crow from colorado congressman eric swalwell from california as well as officer dunn and hodges and i will pass it on over. steny thank you congressman goldman. it's always an honor to stand here with my colleagues

especially an honor to stand here with officers, officer hodges of the metropolitan police department and officer dunn u.s. capital police. listen this is very simple. donald trump inspired a that came and dissented on this capital surrounded the capitol trapped me in many of my colleagues in the house chambers and brutally attacked hundreds of officers wounding over 140 people. what a shameful day today or yesterday that he then went in pardoned hundreds of violent criminals. regardless of your political background or the letter behind your name it shouldn't take any partisanship to condemn an act

of pardoning violent criminals who beat police officers. we are going to retell that story over and over again because it's what these officers standing behind me did serve in what the other officers who stand by us today to serve and police officers around this country put their lives on the line for our community safety deserve. our backing and support when they do their duty and they do their job every day not the lawlessness, the chaos and the disregard for order the rule of law that donald trump represents. and without its minor to turn this over to my colleague christie houlahan. >> thank you representative crow and good afternoon.

it's an honor and privilege and it's very humbling to be standing here amongst these heroes as representative crow mentioned an officer hodges and officer dunn i'm grateful for your services. i'm christie houlahan in the philadelphia area and as an elected official from the area and elected officials from all areas most of us engage in sincere efforts to be nuanced and not to be too polarizing and the way we talk to our communities. we choose phrases like deeply disappointed or extremely worrisome are very concerned frequently. there a lot of ranges of agreement and disagreement but today those kind words fail us because they are totally and completely inadequate to describe our feelings as we stand here. because i'm here this afternoon personally as it better and is taken in oath to protect their homeland to keep us from

dangerous foreign domestic i'm also here is a daughter and granddaughter of veteran and here it is a personal or family who served as the police and the police chief and in the someone who deeply and daily is grateful to the men and women and all of the people who take the oath to protect and defend us all. to say the only reasonable response to president trump's blanket pardon of 1500 supporters who assaulted police in the capitol four years ago as a shock and outrage in the profound sense of betrayal is not adequate enough. many of you may not call this an insurrection but i do. or you may not think president trump was at fault. i do but there can be no disagreement and representative crow talked about this the impact, people died. 150 officers were physically injured that day and many others continue to experience trauma that requires medical help. there is no other way to

describe this, this is political political violence and for our nation's commander-in-chief to literally give the worst of these perpetrators of pardon is chilling. justin pennsylvania -- pennsylvania alone on hundred people convicted felons are free now and free to roam up to the pennsylvania area to return to our communities today because of the actions of our commander-in-chief. by very definition these are threats to our national security. this should independent our political affiliation alarm assault and even his supporters many -- president trump and i disagree on a lot of i'm sure we will express deep disappointment with one another with worry and concern over different policies. the back-and-forth between parties and how best to answer countries ability should agree to disagree.

blanket pardon such as these in at the scale are simply. i have no other words to describe it. let me repeat this was political violence plain and simple and for nation's commander-in-chief to literally give the worst of these violent offenders and perpetrators of pardon is. let's be clear these pardons are a message to president trump's vilest supporters that he has their backs and violence committed in his name is protected and violence committed against a law enforcement officers is protected and they should be a warning to us all. i have a couple of action items for your printer president trump supporters to be cautious and think independently. i call on leaders here and elsewhere to do more for the sake of the country to restrain president trump's -- if i could type the number times i heard people members of the republican party in the hallways today talking about this and being responded about it.

none publicly it was really disappointing. and our press as well. please stay on the story and don't let the trump administration overwhelm you with other news of the day that's less important. finally i call on americans to have the loudest voice of all of us to speak up and say this is not okay and then we say we support them and women in blue and the law and order that they bring with it we follow through with our actions. i will conclude by saying as her nation approaches its 250th birthday next year we'll spend a lot of time inevitably looking back and celebrating our strength history value and ideals that have nurtured us and brought us this american dream. too many of us take that for granted we should be vigilant and fiercely protective of us in our history. i want us to leave with a warning from our founding fathers and pennsylvania zone benjamin franklin who described her nation as a republic but

only if we can keep it. thank you very much for the opportunity to stand in solidarity and with that of the proposed introducing congressman swalwell. >> thank you dan goldman for organizing this into the officers officers. my name is eric swalwell. i have two brothers who today still walk the beat and i'm a former prosecutor so i can tell the difference between a cop and a convict and donald trump just unleashed and released into our communities over 1000 criminals, many of them who committed violent acts and nothing about what donald trump did he races with those individuals did on january 6, nothing erases what they did but we should be raised

this concept that donald trump and the republican party have the backs of law enforcement officers. donald trump did not back the blue. he backs the two in this action makes that absolutely clear. i was in the chamber on january 6 and i'm eternally grateful to officers hodges and dunn officer mike fanone officers who lost his life that day. i want to remind everyone in my republican colleagues that these individuals were not convicted by a jury trial. overwhelmingly they pled guilty. some of them were convicted of jury trials. overwhelmingly they pled guilty. they confessed. they pled guilty because they are guilty, including the

individual who brought the most trauma to officer fanone, by him causing a heart attack and traumatic brain injury now released into our community. why would donald trump do this? he is doing it because he knows he is principally responsible for the violence on january 6 so for donald trump to self exonerate pcast to exonerate them in a few exonerate them and he believes his own hands are clean. they are not clean. we are not going away. it's said that history is written by the winners. donald trump won an election but he has not won the truth. so we are going to let this go away. we are going to hold our

republican colleagues to account. they have a very thin majority in this caucus. they did not do anything unless congress without the majority of the votes coming from democrats so we are going to stand up for a law enforcement we are good to stand up for our democracy in this story is not dead. with that i want to introduce one of the heroes of that day and that is a former capitol hill police officer harry dunn. >> good afternoon. forgive me for the fetterman get up. i like to be comfortable talking about uncomfortable things. i'm just going to talk -- talk up the top of my head and i may get all carried away emotional or angry. i did write down something i want to make sure i would say

donald trump made what he did a campaign promise and it was clear where he stood. he was proud of the people who storm the capitol and january 6. he made this very clear on january 72021 and anyone pretending to be outraged or shocked you haven't been paying attention. the republican party has claimed to be the party of law and order. back the blue however many lawmakers silenced a refusal to push back against donald trump's actions making it incredibly hard. many of the officers that were brutally assaulted that they are the same officers who protect the donald trump on monday. think about that for a minute. just sit with that for a minute. the same people that donald trump sent to a to attack or the

same people that made sure he was safe on monday. in the same officers who protect members of congress every day to include the speaker of the house mike johnson. he has a security detail. mike johnson security detail more time with him than they do their own families. these republican members that are scared or whatever the courage to speak out against what donald trump has done as the congresswoman said it's not good enough. that's what i wanted to make sure that i said to be the all talk off the top of my head. i'm upset after four years of us and sergeant anil who is not here right now he would love to be here right now struggling like a lot of us are. he would love to be here.

we have been saying the same things for four years. a lot of reporters called me and asked me to react to the news by the party. what more do you want me to say? what can i say differently that i haven't been saying for four years x. his supporters and his encourager's and his enablers in congress didn't say anything. donald trump told us exactly what he was going to do. outraged sure it lies with donald trump obsolete. i'm more upset at the people who are more surprised and shocked now that donald trump did what he said he was going to do from the start. christopher wray called these individuals domestic terrorists. on january 6 i was surrounded by

a group of brave men and women who refuse to quit. i'm honored right now to be standing in surrounded by the brave men and women right now in congress. i appreciate you all. the winner writes history. i'm not going away. i'm going to tell you one quick story about officer hodges before in today's him. officer hodges just finished his sixth straight 12 hour day protecting the capitol for the inauguration of donald trump. many people have seen the video. i had the opportunity to meet with him in july of 2021 for the first hearing of the january 6 select committee and i was

speechless after he told a story emotions pouring out and that was three and a half years ago. it's shocking that we are here and all of the work and pain that these officers have gone through trying to be raised by donald trump. >> good evening. i'm here today in my personal capacity and i hope you'll forgive me if i'm a bit scattered because as the congressman said i've been working pretty much nonstop since friday i think for donald trump's second inauguration. working to make sure everyone that came to d.c. had adequate law enforcement security and the transfer of power was peaceful.

it was surreal. ray maga hats they recognize who i was and thanked me for my service and reminded me of the january 62021 because on that morning they thanked me for my service to. then they went into the ellipse and listen to donald trump speak. and trump was told they were armed and didn't care and he told them to stay the fight, fight, fight, fight. once they went to cap old they didn't bank me anymore. they called me a traitor telling me to remember my of. i was beaten, crushed kicked punched surrounded but someone

reached underneath my visor and try to gouge out my eyes. and all these people are just pardoned by donald trump. he says they were the real victims. that they were the patriots. i don't understand how anyone can believe that. donald trump everything he stands for is an anathema to me. but he is the president of the united states and he's going to leverage that power in ways. one of the first ways he chose to do that was to pardon everyone for january 6 and tried

to stop the transfer of power and usurp the will of the people. i hope the guardrails that remained in our government are sufficient to preserve the republic for the next four years and i would encourage everyone watching to look with fresh eyes on what donald trump is doing and what he is saying and continually ask yourself who you want to represent yourself and your children and everyone else in the world your neighbors your friends and your family because while he has been elected those in congress who enabled him are still answerable to you and they are afraid of losing their jobs precisely because too many

people offer their unwavering support of donald trump. you begin to think even a little bit that we can do better than trump and their support for him might waiver too. you won't be able to answer this agenda quite as easily. all that being said that people who attacked us on january 6 are free now. they can try it again and they will know when they tried again they will get pardoned again but that doesn't matter. myself i will be there if i'm needed and i'll do it all again. member the capitol police mvp -- mpd will be there. thank you. >> as officer dunn said we invited sergeant danell to join

us today but he declined because he is understandably very upset on what is happening but he sent a statement that i'm going to read. on january 6 of 2021 i was just doing my job in fulfilling my oath to defend this country. american citizens attacked the capitol injuring me and my colleagues did we the officers protected all elected officials regardless of their political party. for nearly 25 years i've served this country honorably in the army and is a police officer. i've cried and blood for this nation at home and abroad against foreign and domestic threats without hesitation. i am an immigrant from the dominican republic a naturalized citizen who nearly lost my life defending the constitution and the rule of law in the building that president trump was just inaugurated in. it's worth noting that many of

the officers who guarded his inauguration were violently assaulted by the people that president trump pardoned later that day. trump only pardoned them because they committed crimes under his banner and were fighting for him. these were rioters who attacked police officers. in my case more than 40 rioters assaulted me. i sustained multiple injuries and underwent two surgeries for peering my right foot and left shoulder. i had cuts and bruises all over my body that day. yet despite mangers i showed up to work on january 7 exhausted traumatized injured. and continue protecting those same lawmakers who turned their backs on us. for a party that claims to have the high moral ground when defending the rule of law law and order back in the blue these pardons are the height of hypocrisy. the veil has been lifted.

the republican party does not support the officers who saved their lives from the enraged who made them run in fear for their lives. if the tunnel entrance or burst at all. i was overwhelmed and attacked trying to prevent the marauders from hunting members of congress room by room. gets elected officials turned their backs on us and refused to acknowledge it and instead of denouncing in condemning the assaulted republican members that we protect every day continue to fight the attackers to return to the crime scene and personally give them guided tours of the capitol. they were welcomed as heroes. treated the officers as. dishonoring our service for saving their lives. they refuse to install a plaque with the names of the officers

who defended the title entrance as mandated by their own laws. it's a miscarriage of justice and the trail and a mockery and the desecration of the men and women that risk their lives defending our democracy. i think president biden for issuing preemptive pardons for me and my colleagues but it did not seek a pardon because i did nothing wrong. my family and i are grateful for the measures but i never thought honoring my oath to protect and serve as the truth to power would require a pardon to protect us from those very same people who claim to support these officers the rule of law and the preservation of our democratic system of governance. that is what they did to the point of nearly losing my life and to many republicans that's my greatest -- >> we are happy to open it up to questions from anyone.

low earn boebert was at the d.c. -- lauren boebert thanked everyone who is released and she'd be happy to give them a tour of the capitol however myself and michael fanone met to wheat -- meet with lauren boebert to ask her why giving the left capital police a congressional gold medal. i'm not surprised and we are going to see a lot more of that. >> i heard they were petitioning

gop members to release levers left of the ranks. [inaudible] it's been increased rhetoric and stuff and rises to the level of alerting authorities. let's be clear they want you to be afraid. they want you to stop talking. that's their mission and we have

have party seeing what they are capable of and what they are willing to do so i don't want to be naïve to think that they wouldn't do something or try to do something. i'm not prepared to live in fear because that means that they win. i would just add it didn't take long for many of these convicted criminals violent extremists to declare what their intentions are. i think before he even got out of prison to qanon shaman tweeted that he was being released and he was going to go by some expletive guns. rico tullio the leader of the proud boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and since it 22 years before he was fully pardoned went on a right-wing radio show and started talking about how this was just the

beginning and we need to spend the next four years making whatever this is permanent for 100 years. so it didn't take long for them to reveal what their intentions are and it shouldn't be a surprise to us given christopher ray the fbi director has repeatedly said domestic violent extremism is the greatest threat to our homeland security. [inaudible]

i saw the news about the creation of the select subcommittee and the judiciary can they be. it's a farce intended to try to cover up their abuse of process in donald trump's pardons. they don't want to talk about donald trump and what he's doing and they don't want us to be telling the story that these officers are today so it's another diversion and another distraction to rewrite history but to confuse folks. you heard clearly that we are not confused and we are not distracted. we will continue to tell the story loudly, clearly repeatedly about the criminality, about the abuse and not just the power but of our law enforcement and we are not going to stop.

[inaudible] [inaudible] he is right on thing.

there's nothing like january 6 is ever happen in our country before. and donald trump is a friend to anyone or anything that flatters him increases his wealth and secures his power. through his life he has obtained a great deal of wealth and power and allegedly and it's our law enforcement's duty to uphold the law and protecting him. so he appreciates that aspect of law enforcement and that we guarantee his safety. until the voters choose differently and as for inviting these people into the white house, a course he would do that. he recorded them singing the national anthem at his rallies.

he's tied himself to these people and he can't let go of that. if you are ever able to come close to the truth he would have two admit his own role in the insurrection. [inaudible] they want to be remembered as heroes. i think i speak for every other officer you don't want that ty lee does want accountability.

they are seeking to go down in history and time seeking to make sure our history continues but it's no surprise that is their rhetoric. they believe that. it's but it's expected and like i said it's been four years of dealing with this and i'm tired of talking almost that caveat they want you to stop talking. i can't no matter how tired of that i am and that's my message to everybody listening and watching, you can't stop. you can't quit. if everybody threw their hands up and said i'm done with it when anything got hard would still be legal women wouldn't have the right to vote and there so many things in his lifetime that have seemed impossible to obtain. and this is one of them.

but it's worth it and that's why i'm still going. >> we cannot normalize and you cannot normalize donald trump's actions. you can not pay attention to what he says because everything he says is a lie and allied by his actions. the american people need to pay attention to his actions. he's paid a lot of lip service to helping the middle class during the campaign and he even said it monday in his inauguration address, there's not a single executive order that he has issued over the last three days that helps the middle class. in fact the only one that relates to the economy increases the prices of prescription drugs undoing what president biden has done. then when he is confronted with the facts that man behind officer dunn was released after

tazing officer fanone do you know what donald trump's response was clicked we will take a look at that. what do you mean we will take a look at that? and you just pardon him. there's nothing to tepco look at. you take a look before you make this decision but but this decin was as much about himself and rewriting history for himself as it is about the criminals that he let free. we all had to hold them accountable. thank you all. >> c-span's washington journal. our form involving you to discuss the latest issues and government, politics, and public policy from washington and

across the country. monday morning, the american enterprise institute analyzes trump's return the white house and potential second term challenges. and then politico on white house news the day and previews the week ahead. and jeff gilbert of newsradio discusses executive actions dealing with the electric vehicle industry. it washington journal. join the conversation live at 7:00 eastern monday morning on c-span, c-span now, or c-span.org. >> monday house speaker mike johnson, steve scalise and tom emmer along with other republican leaders will speakt the annual party retreat at the trump golf club in miami. watch at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. later, trump is expected to

address the republican conference at 5:00 p.m. eastern and that will also be on c-span, c-span now, and c-span.org. this week on the c-span networks, the houses out as house republicans hold their annual retreat. the senate will be in session as they continue to hold hearings for several of president trump's cabinet nominees, including rfk jr., his nominee for health and human services secretary. he will appear before the senate finance committee wednesday and the senate health, education, labor and committee thursday. also thursday, cash patel testifies before theenate judiciary as he seeks become fbi director. and tulsi gabbard, the nominee for director of national intelligence, will appear before the senate intelligence committee. watch this week on the c-span networks, or on c-span nowou free mobile video app. and go to c-span.org for

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