happening again. i also want to thank and acknowledge my brothers and sisters in blue who fought alongside me january 6 to protect our democracy. each of you is a hero and it is my honor to serve with you each and every day. i would like to thank the american people for all the support they have provided these past several months to me and my fellow officers. lastly, to the rioters, the insurrectionists and terrorists of that day, democracy went on that night and still continues to exist today. democracy is bigger than any one person and any one party. you all tried to disrupt democracy that day and you all failed. thank you again for the opportunity to testify and i will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> thank you very much.

i thank all the witnesses for their testimony. the rules we established allow you the opportunity to tell your story. there is no question about it, you have done it in your own words. we appreciate it. and so what we will do now is begin our questioning of you and i now recognize myself for questions. at the time of the attack on the capitol i was in the gallery observing the proceedings on the house floor while members of congress were being protected by the police, you protected the capitol and our very democracy were being attacked by the mob outside. i want to learn more about what you did and what you witnessed. officer, as a narcotics officer you weren't supposed to be at

the capitol on january 6, is that right? >> yes, sir, that's correct. >> what prompted you to come to the capitol? >> i was listening to the radio transmissions specifically those coming from now commander robert glover who was the on-scene commander. if you've listened to those transmissions he identifies himself as cruiser 50. i heard things i never heard before in my law enforcement career. in regard to the numerous distress calls or 1033s, not uncommon in policing i heard things like, you know, declaration of a city wide 1033 which in my career to my recollection has only been utilized in addition to the

9/11 attacks on the navy yard attack. and so i found that particularly distressful. also you could hear the tone of the individual officers' voices. they were scared. they were clearly outnumbered and being violently assaulted. >> thank you. so basically radio traffic at 1033 signal on the radio and your basic law enforcement instinct said your fellow comrades needed help, therefore you made your way along with your friend to the capitol. >> yes, sir. >> so you went anyway. let me thank you for that and i understand a number of other people did the same. officer hodges, we've seen the

harrowing video of you being crushed in a doorway as you bravely fought to keep the mob from breaching the capitol. many of your fellow officers acts of heroism were not captured on video and not therefore known to the public. can you please share with the committee other acts of heroism by your colleagues on january 6 that you are aware of? >> absolutely. one of my sergeants, sergeant peek while trying to maintain control with barricades on the west terrace was struck by a rioter and fractured his right index finger. he put some tape on it and went back to work. he was there for several hours before finally accepting medical leave. he ended up having to have the tip of his finger removed.

another officer who was out there in the fight with us, he much like myself, he had a large heavy object thrown and struck his head and he wasn't as lucky as me. he has suffered lost time from that day and he remains still out on medical leave even today he hasn't returned to work. at the time he was still fighting. another officer was on the west terrace and tunnel instrumental to the defense even after being soaked with spray and shocked several times by a cattle prod one of the terrorists brought with them. when i went over my opening statement before, i mentioned that we were attacked outside the secondary defense line on the west terrace. after we rallied there we continued onward.

i know another officer found a capitol police officer being dragged into the crowd and unable to signal to us what was going on. he charged in there by himself and got that officer back out of there and in the process hyperextended his knee and took several other injuries. you know, the "washington post" and carnegie-mellon university estimated there were about 9,400 terrorists out there and i would say we had 150, to 175 officers. so any one of them could tell you any amount of heroic acts or injuries they sustained. these are just a few that i know of. >> thank you very much. officer grenell, you talk about your tour in iraq and what have you and thank you for your service. can you give the committee a

sense of comparing those two experiences with what you experienced on january 6th? >> sure. back when i was in iraq and sometime on convoy mission to provide mutual support or taking care packages what not to the units in the detachment, we went through roadside bomb invested, ied convoys and my fear were minimal at that time. it was not as constant. i know we knew at that time that we could go over -- run over an ied but at least we knew we were in a combat zone.

here in our country in our very own capitol we are being attacked. not once but multiple times we had -- >> can you pull the microphone to your chest? >> not only we were attacked one time but multiple times over and over, different people, they hit us and they got tired of hitting us and then they switched. somebody else rotating in and out. and as my colleagues also have said, we were in the lowest entrance tunnel and we didn't have a chance to rotate ourselves after an hour and a half later. so whoever was there, we were fighting for our life. we were fighting to protect all of you in our mind that time at that entrance that was it.

that was the point of breach and we were not letting them in. they tried to convert us. they tried to persuade us to let them in yelling and then once they saw we were not doing that, they continued to even attack us even more. and it was non-stop. so my time compared to iraq, totally different. this is our own citizens, people who we've sworn an oath to protect but yet they are attacking us with the same flag that they claim to represent. it was bad. >> thank you. officer dunn, you talked about being called the n word, you

talked about being -- talked about like you never heard before. and you talked about sharing comments from the other colleagues as well as the seeing of the confederate flag and other things carried through the capitol. as an african-american law enforcement officer, can you give us, this committee and those who are watching, how you felt defending the capitol on that day, being called that and seeing the symbols of the confederacy going through the capitol at the same time? >> yes, sir, thank you for your question. to be frank, while the attack was hap -- happening, i wasn't

able to process it as a racial attack. i was just trying to survive that day and get home. when i did have a moment to process it, in the rotunda where i became so emotional because i was able to process everything that had happened and it was just so overwhelming and it is so disheartening and disappointing. we live in a country with people like that, that attack you because of the color of your skin just to hurt you. those words are weapons. thankfully at the moment it didn't hinder me from doing my job but once i was able to process it, it hurt. it hurt just reading it now and just thinking about it, that people demonize you because of the color of your skin when my

blood is red, i'm an american citizen. i am a police officer, a peace officer. i am here to defend this country, defend everybody in this building, not just the members or the staff, guests, everybody. it just hurts that we have people in this country that result to that regardless of your actions and what you desire to do to make a difference out there. it's disheartening. >> thank you. because of your heroism on that day, lives were saved and our democracy was preserved in large part because you gave your all, all of you, for that day on january 6th. i assure you this committee will ensure there is a comprehensive account of your heroic acts and in your

testimony this morning is an essential part of that record. thank you for your service to this country and for coming before us today. the chair now recognizes members for questions they may wish to ask the witnesses. the gentleman woman from wyoming is recognized. >> thank you to all of our witnesses for your heroism and bravery that day and for being here today and i join the chairman and every member of this committee to make sure we get to the truth and that those who did this are accountable. officer grenell, i would like to ask you, you describe in your testimony that it was -- you said it was like a medieval battlefield. that what you were subjected to that day is something like a medieval battlefield.

we fought inch by inch to a violent mob intent on subverting our democratic process. is it the case as you were fighting there you were not aware that the capitol had been breached elsewhere? i believe you said you really thought you were the last line of defense, is that right? >> that is correct. >> and so officer grenell, when you think about that and share with us the vivid memory of the cruelty and violence and assault that day and then you hear former president trump say quote, it was a loving crowd. there was a lot of love in the crowd. how does that make you feel? >> it is upsetting. it is pathetic excuse for his behavior for something that he himself helped to create this mon monstrosity.

i am still recovering from that love from those assaulting us that day. if that was hugs and kisses we should go to his house and do the same thing to him. to me it's insulting, demoralizing because everything that we did was to prevent everyone in the capitol from getting hurt. and what he was doing instead of sending the military or telling his supporters to stop this nonsense, he egged them to continue fighting. i wasn't on the west t terrace with these officers. all of them were telling us trump sent us. nobody else. there was nobody else, not antifa, not black lives matter. it was not the f.b.i. it was his supporters that he sent them over to the capitol

that day. he could have done a lot of things, one of them was to tell them to stop. he talks about sacrifices. the only thing he has sacrificed is the institutions of the country and the country itself only for his ego because he wants to continue -- he wants the job. he doesn't want to do the job. that's a shame on him and himself. >> thank you. officer, you talked in your testimony about the fact that the line that day was the seat of our government and american democracy. can you talk about as you think now about what was under threat, first of all did you know -- did you have a sense at the time as you were going through the battle before the horrific violence happened to

you of the nature of the gravity of the threat that we were facing, that the line was in fact the seat of american democracy? >> well, my response that day really was based off of my obligation as a police officer to not only protect lives of the members of congress and their staff, but also to my fellow officers. the politics of that day really didn't play into my response at all. >> thank you. officer hodges, in your testimony you talk about when you were at the ellipse and you mentioned the significant number of men dressed in tactical gear wearing ballistic vests, helmets and goggles. when you saw that, was that something you had anticipated at all? could you just tell us more about that crowd there at the

ellipse, the extent to which you saw people who clearly were in military or parra military clothes? >> it was absolutely a source of concern. like i said, they had a carrier vest designed to carry ballistic shielding, backpacks, helmets, and i couldn't get a count and we couldn't stop and search everyone but -- i don't know how many there were but i know that it was concern of mine. >> thank you very much. and then finally officer dunn, you mentioned the text message that you received and you expressed some surprise. you mentioned you had not seen any intelligence that would have led you to believe that we should expect that kind of violence. could you elaborate on that a little bit?

>> yes, ma'am. so we were expecting civil disobedience as we do at the capitol. at least that's what was relayed to us. a couple arrests, name calling, you know, unfriendly people, but nowhere near the level of violence or even close to it like we experienced. when i received the text messages it made the hairs on my neck rise but since our chain of command had not told us to prepare for any of these levels of violence, okay, whatever, i've been here, starting year 14 in november and dealt with hundreds of protests where people get arrested and peaceful first amendment protests everybody has the right to protest, okay? do what you do and, you know,

we'll arrest you if you break the law and we'll go home later that night. it was a lot different than that. i was not alerted to the level of violence. the text message i got foreshadowed that looking back, but that was not -- we were not prepared for what we faced that day. >> thank you. mr. chairman, with that i would like to ask if we could enter that complete text message into the record. >> without objection. so ordered. >> i would just like to express my deep gratitude for what you all did to save us and won't be forgotten and we'll get to the bottom of this. thank you very much. with that i yield back. >> chair recognizes woman from california ms. loughlin. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thanks to each one of you and your colleagues for what you did. i was on the floor of the house

helping to defend the voters of arizona to a challenge to their electors while you were out trying to keep a violent mob from invading the capitol. so i really do -- i want to thank you for your tremendous courage and stamina and heroism not just for myself. i chair the house administration committee and i know how many others work in that capitol, not only the staff to the members of congress but the food service workers who were present and clerical staff. you saved them as well and so they also owe you a debt of gratitude. i do realize that ultimately the rioters breached the capitol. the time you kept them out made a tremendous difference. you saved the day.

you saved the constitution. and it made a tremendous difference for our country. also, i did hear you about the need for additional help and i want to pledge to you that we will work with the capitol police to make sure that the resources, the mental health has the resources that officers need. i will make that pledge to you right now. i would like to ask sergeant, everyone knew we were fighting in the hallway near the lower west terrace on january 6th. can you tell me what you went through on that hallway and then while you were there, metropolitan police arrived for -- to help you out, what difference did that make? >> sure, ma'am. before i start i just -- by no means am i suggesting that we would go to his house. i apologize for my outburst.

after we retreated to the lower west terrace entrance, it was rough. it was terrible. everything that was happening to us was simultaneous. we didn't have a lot of support. we had probably like 50 officers at most when we went back in. once we were there we decided saying to ourselves the entrance that they'll try to breach. we'll hold the line. we will do everything possible without coordinating amongst ourselves. the few officers who were still carrying shields, we automatically positioned them in the front. some of those shields were taken and ripped apart from the

officers' hands. some of the officers also got concussed because they were hit with the same shields they were holding because that was so violently taken from them that they were concussed. we did multiple struggles in terms of fighting. my shield was round and i was able to get some strikes but because we were so close quarters it was hard for us to even do that. the only thing we were allowed to was push forward. whoever has shields stay in the front. whoever was behind the people with the shield they were striking those rioters. at some point i fell on top of the floor on the floor on top of some shields trying to help and assist some of the officers.

and i got pulled to the crowd. luckily i was able to free myself and stand up. later on, the second time i went back to the front is when i -- officer hodges was getting trampled. i was getting trampled because the mere force of the rioters pushing forward and police officers pushing out, we were getting trampled in the middle. it was very terrible things that happened to us. >> officer, before i ask you a question, i would like to show a brief video clip of some of what you went through today. i realize it can be difficult to watch but i think it is important for the public to see. [shouting]

>> push them back, come on! [shouting] [shouting]

>> stay in there, buddy. it's jimmie, i'm here. mike. >> almost all of that was from your body camera footage and can you walk us through what we've just seen, officer? >> i believe the first portion of that video began that was my body worn camera footage from the crypt area of the capitol rotunda. it was there that i first heard the 1033 or distress call come

out from the lower west terrace tunnel. i didn't realize at the time was only a few hundred yards away from where i was at. i told my partner, jimmie albright, who was there with me, that there was a 1033 coming out from the lower west terrace. we tried to get our our bearing and figure out which way that might be. we asked a group of capitol police officers and they directed us down a set of stairs. from there jimmie and i walked down to the lower west terrace tunnel. the first thing i remember was seeing a buddy of mine, sergeant bogner, administrative sergeant who used to work in my district. now works at the academy. he was unable to see. he was sprayed in the face with bear mist and i said it's me.

i remember he stretched out his hand to shake mine. that's when he told me the guys that were just beyond that set of double doors had been fighting there for i believe he said about 30 minutes. i don't think he realized what time it was. they had been fighting since around 1:00 p.m. it was 3:00 so those guys had been there fighting for two hours unrelieved. i remember looking up through the set of double doors. there was glass panes and you could see the cs gas white powder still lingering in the air. it was at that point i realized i probably should have brought my gas mask. i went through the double doors and i saw ramey kyle, who was at the time a commander with our criminal investigations division overseeing all the detectives units, like many

other officers, sergeants, lieutenants, captains that day he self-deployed and found himself commanding a group of about 30 or 40 officers there in the lower west terrace tunnel. commander kyle was having a difficult time breathing. i remember i followed him back out through the set of double doors into that initial hallway as he kind of cleared himself, straightened himself up. i described it before i thought he looked like george patton. i remember he put his hat back on and walked right back out through the doorway into the tunnel and i followed him. it was at that point i think when i started approaching that group of officers there defending the doorway that i realized the gravity of the

situation. my initial thought was these guys look like -- they look beat to hell. and, you know, maybe i could try to get in there and get some guys some help. so i told jimmie that we needed to get in there and try to offer assistance and that's what we did initially. we started making our way through the crowd of officers, yelling out who needs a break? and like i said in my initial testimony, there were no volunteers. there were officers who identified other colleagues who were in need of help and i remember somebody yelling out this guy needs help and handed me that officer. i handed him off to jimmie and told him to get him to the back and i continued to make my way up to the front lines.

once i got up there, it was the first time i really came face-to-face with these terrorists. they were dressed in clothing adorned with political slogans, make america great again, donald trump 2020, things of that nature. they were wearing military-style clothing. kevlar vests and helmets. many had gas masks. quite a few had shields which they had taken away from law enforcement officers. they were using them to beat us at the front line. the first thing i told them was hey man, we have to get these doors closed. we got injured officers in here and that really seemed to piss those guys off. they became incredibly violent. that's when that surge that you watched in some of the video

began and you had a large group at the mouth of that tunnel entrance trying to push their way through the officers who were fighting to defend it. i believe had they done so or had they accomplished that they would have trampled us to death. most certainly you would have had police officers killed. i fought there at the front for some time. i was yelling out, you know, trying to inspire some of the other officers that were up there that were tired telling them to dig in and push. and we started to make some progress. we pushed those guys out of the

tunnel, out through the initial thresh way -- threshold and i remember thinking to myself man, it's good to get some fresh air. it was at that point i was pulled off the line. that initial period of time where i was pulled, you know, off that line was kind of a blur. i just remember getting violently assaulted from every direction and eventually found myself out probably 250, maybe 300 feet away from the mouth of the tunnel where the other officers were at. and i knew that was in -- i was up shit creek without a paddle. i was trying to push guys off of me, create some space, all the while i recognized the fact that there were individuals that were trying to grab ahold

of my gun. i remember one of them distinctly lunging at me time and time again trying to grab my gun. i heard people in the crowd yelling get his gun, kill him with his own gun and words to that effect. i thought about using my weapon. i believed that there were individuals in the crowd whose intentions were to kill me. and i came to that conclusion because of the fact that separated from these other officers who were only trying to defend the capitol, i no longer posed any type of threat nor was i an impediment to them, you know, going inside of the building. but yet they tortured me. they beat me. i was struck with a taser device at the base of my skull

numerous times. and they continued to do so until i yelled out that i have kids. and i said that hoping to appeal to some of their -- some of those individuals' humanity and fortunately a few did step in and intervene on my behalf. they did assist me back towards the mouth of the tunnel entrance and other officers were then able to rescue me and pull me back inside. but at that point i was unconscious and based off the body-worn camera footage, it's believed that i was unconscious for approximately four minutes. >> thank you, officer. thanks to each one of you.

our country is lucky, really, blessed that you are as patriotic and brave as you are. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. kinzinger. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you to my colleagues on the committee. thank you to our witnesses. i never expected today to be quite as emotional for me as it has been. i have talked to a number of you and gotten to know you. i think it's important to tell you right now, though, you guys may individually feel a little broken because i'll talk about the effects you have to deal with and you talked about the impact of that day. you guys won. you guys held. democracies are not defined by

our bad days. we're defined by how we come back from bad days, how we take accountability for that. and for all the overheated rhetoric surrounding this committee, our mission is very simple. it is to find the truth and it is to insure accountability. like most americans i'm frustrated that six months after a deadly insurrection breached the united states capitol for several hours on live television, we still don't know exactly what happened and why. because many in my party have treated this as just another partisan fight. it is toxic and a disservice to the officers and their families, to the staff and employees of the capitol complex and to the american people who deserve the truth and to those generations before us who went to war to defend

self-governance. that's is what is at stake and why i agreed to serve on this committee. i want to know what happened that day but more importantly i want all americans to be able to trust the work this committee does and get the facts out there free of conspiracy. this cannot continue to be a partisan fight. i'm a republican. i'm a conservative. in order to heal from damage caused that day we need to call out the facts. it is time to stop the outrage and conspiracies that fuel the violence and division in this country and most importantly we need to reject those that promote it. as a country it is time to learn from our past mistakes. rebuild stronger so this never happens again and then we can move onward. serving on this committee i'm here to investigate january 6 not in spite of my membership in the republican party but because of it. not to win a political fight, but to learn the facts and

defend our democracy. here is what we know, congress was not prepared on january 6th. we weren't prepared because we never imagined that this could happen. an attack by our own people encouraged by those granted power through the very system they sought to overturn. that is a lesson. that is not a conspiracy theory or a counter narrative. we don't blame victims, we go after the criminals. some have concocted a counter naifsh narrative to discredit this process on the grounds we didn't launch a similar investigation into the urban riots and looting last summer. mr. chairman i was called on to serve during the summer riots as an air national guardsman. i condemn those riots and the destruction of property that resulted. but not once did i ever feel that the future of self-governance was threatened like i did on january 6th.

there is a difference between breaking the law and rejecting the rule of law. between a crime even grave crimes and a coup. as we begin our work today i want to call this committee's attention to the oath of office. an oath not to a party or an individual but to the constitution that represents all americans. everyone in elected office knows how hard it can be to keep that oath, to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states and the forefront with our minds with the political pressures and elections around the corner. mr. chairman. our witnesses today like every other law enforcement officer took the same oath we did. on january 6 the temptation to compromise, it came in the form of a violent mob. while we on the dais were

whisked away from the danger heroes like those here paid the price. we're only here now because you guys were here then. therefore, it is all together fitting that we begin our investigation of january's lawless attack against the constitution with these four men who made sure that the attack did not succeed. that those who helped to insure that democracy held. i think it's important to remember that you are four stories but there are hundreds with stories as well that you represent where you sit. officer, i know your passion is to make sure that d.c. metro gets the credit it is due. i thank you -- i know that you represent the hundreds of officers like officers hodges that responded to that call. what i want to ask does this feel like old history to any of the four of you? sometimes we hear out there

it's time to move on, right? it's been six months. time to move on. does it feel like old history and time to move on? say yes or no. >> no, sir. >> no. >> nope. >> there can be no moving on without accountability and there can be no healing until we make sure this can't happen again. >> how do you move on without correcting what happened? >> let me ask you all one of the narratives out there and officer, it triggered something in your testimony when you said it. so there has been this idea this was not an armed insurrection. that somehow that is justification for what happened. we know the hugs and kisses and it was blm and antifa, right? i'm sure you would want to investigate that if that's the case. now we've heard maybe the

f.b.i. actually started this but one of the ones that has always held was that this was not an armed insurrection. officer dunn, you mentioned that those that stormed the capitol were well-organized and trained. i'll ask all four of you. officer hodges i know it was part of your job initially before you responded to the capitol. if in the middle of all that melee you see somebody with a gun in that crowd, would you be able to go out, apprehend and arrest them, read them their rights and go through that process or was the mission at the moment survival and defense of the capitol? i'm asking is it possible that people maybe have guns and we've seen that actually there were but this idea that well, people weren't arrested with guns at the time it was raw survival. i'll start with we can just start to the left. let me ask you, what is your response to that? >> for those people who

continue to downplay this vie olent attack on democracy and officers i suggest them to look at the videos and the footage right now. common things were used as weapons, like a baseball bat, a hockey stick, a rebar, a flagpole, including the american flag, pepper spray, bear spray, you name it. you had all these items and things that were thrown at us and used to attack us. those are weapons, no matter if it is a pen, the way they were using these items it was to hurt officers. it was to hurt police officers. their intent was not to say hey, let me go and find the republicans or democrats or independents in there. it was every single body that

was here in this building, in the capitol, their intent was to get them out and hurt them. it would have been a much different outcome had we not stopped them especially at the lower west terrace entrance. at that time we didn't know that was -- that there were other breaches in the capitol. our intent was to stop whoever was trying to come in through that door and those weapons that were used were common items. the way they were using it was as weapons. >> let me ask, too and kind of my final moments. sergeant and officer, you were virginia guardsmen. at any time in your service in the military. i'm an air guardsman, sergeant grenell you mentioned your time

in iraq. at any time in your military service did you change how you defended the person to your left or right or how you trained based on their political affiliation. >> no. >> whether it fwhas war or anything. >> no, sir. the way i viewed it at that time i'm an american and the person next to me is an american and i would do everything possible for me to defend him and the country at that time. >> you guys did that. you guys did that in the blue. >> yes, sir. >> i want to say that is the mission of this committee. we may have our deep differences on other policy issues but we are all americans today. we thank you for holding that line. >> if i may respond to congressman. when you asked about the armed part, when the officers showed

me there what appeared to be a police badge, i don't know too many police officers, this is just me being a police officer for 13 years, that carry their badge and don't carry a gun with them. so i looked on their hips and you see a print. i didn't see it was a gun. but a reasonable police officer would believe that's a gun on their hip. >> just to be specifically. a print is what looks like a outline of a gun? >> that's correct. >> thank you mr. chairman and witnesses. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. schiff. >> i was on the house floor from the beginning of the joint session until the attack and evacuation by the capitol police and i want to thank you. i'm convinced one of the lives you saved that day might have been my own. we are all greatly in your debt. you are all heroes.

sergeant genell. i would like the public to see from your perspective some video if you are comfortable with my showing it. >> yeah, that's fine. >> if the clerk could roll the video, please. [shouting] >> you, hold the shields. we need a man. go ahead. [shouting] >> stop, stop.

>> sergeant, in that video one of the first things you hear is someone saying you are going to die tonight. you described in your opening statement being crushed by rioters, you could feel yourself losing oxygen thinking this was how your life would end trampled to death defending the capitol. it is hard for any of us to understand what you went through even though we were there. it is even harder for people around the country to understand what that was like. can you tell us what you were thinking when you were losing oxygen and thought that might be the end? >> my rational there and the way i was thinking, we can't let these people in no matter what. even if it costs my life.

that bloody hand you saw, that's me there. both my hands were bleeding bad. and at no point in time did i stop to consider stop because the attacks were so limitless that all we had to do is -- i was thinking i need to survive this if possible. but i'm willing to sacrifice myself to prevent this, the attackers from coming in. i swore an oath and -- to protect the public, members of congress and the united states constitution and that's what i was doing that day regardless of my personal safety along with everybody else who was there that day. they were calling us traitors, even though they were the ones

committing the treasonous act that day. it is devastating and demoralizing for people, whatever party it is, to call this attack and continue to minimize it like nothing happened. it was an attempted coup that was happening at the capitol that day. and if it had been another country, the u.s. would have sent help. and people need to understand that it's a very -- the event that was happening that day, we were all fighting for our lives to give them -- to give you guys a chance to go home to your family and to escape. and now the same people who we helped, the same people who we

gave them the borrowed time to get to safety, now they are attacking us and our character and attacking officer's character. people who never served in the military or as a law enforcement. it is a disgrace. my actions that day was to save you guys regardless of my personal safety. and i still continue to want to do that today, tomorrow, and as long as i'm permitted to do it and if it is demanded of myself to do that in the future. >> sergeant, this had a deep impact on you, all of you, but also had a big impact on your family. you described how when you got home you couldn't even hug your wife because you had chemicals all over you. you wanted to go back it seems like no sooner than you got home you wanted to go back.

>> yes, sir. >> i think i read you felt guilty. did your wife want you to go back? >> no. >> why did you go back and what was your conversation with her about that? >> after i took a shower, i spent about 10 minutes hugging here and my son. i told her i've got to get some sleep because i have to go back to work. and she said no you're not. you are hurt. i said no, i'm still able to continue to carry out my duties and by 8:00 i was on my way back despite her concerns and for my safety. my sense of duty for the country, for the constitution at that time was bigger than even my love for my wife and my son. i put that ahead and for me it

is confounding that some people who have sworn an oath, elected officials including people in the military that i've seen at the lower stairs fighting against me. they swore an oath and they are forgetting about the oath. they aren't putting the country before the party and that's what bothers me the most because i as a former soldier, i know what that oath. i am still willing to do that. we have people right now in front of the justice department asking to release some of the very same people to be released, even though we're testifying about the trial and the agony and everything that happened to us.

it is pathetic. they shouldn't be elected officials anymore. >> officer dunn, you described talking to your fellow black officer about what you went through in experiencing those racial slurs and you asked a question, i think, that i've been haunted by ever since. this is america. and i'm very interested to know your thoughts and the answer to that question. is this america what you saw? >> well, thank you for the question. no, i said that i've done a few interviews before about my experiences that day and i said that it was a war that we fought and a war is composed of

a bunch of different battles. and everybody even sitting at this table fought a different battle that day but all for the same war. as black officers i believe we fought a different battle also. and the fact that we had our race attacked and just because of the way we looked, you know, to answer your question frankly i guess it is america. it shouldn't be but i guess that's the way that things are. i don't condone it or i don't like it. i mean, if you look at our history of american history, things are -- the country has existed because they won a war or colonies and state lines or boundaries exist because of violence and wars. so i guess it sounds silly but i guess it is american.

it is so -- but it is not the side of america that i like. not the side that any of us here represent. we represent the good side of america, the people that actually believe in decency and human decency and we appeal to just the good in people. that's what we want to see. whether we disagree with how they vote on a bill about infrastructure, everybody wants the right thing, people to do okay. i'm glad to see this committee composed of republican members also. that's encouraging. it is encouraging. that's the side of america that i say yes this is america. this is the side i like and the side that i acknowledge. >> officer, thank you. i believe in this country and i believe in it because of people

like you who understand what the flag means and what our constitution means and risk their lives to defend it. i would like to think as amanda gorman so eloquently said that we're not broken, we're just unfinished. because if we're no longer committed to a peaceful transfer of power after elections, if our side doesn't win and god help us, we deem elections illegitimate because they didn't go our way and we'll do better next time god help us. if we're so driven by bigotry and hate that we treat fellow citizens of traitors if they don't look like us or born in

another country -- god help us. but i have faith because of folks like you. and i didn't expect this -- i'm so grateful to all of you and with that, mr. chairman, i the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona. lick my colleagues i want to extend my gratitude and appreciation for your service. i was in the house floor like m colleagues on the sixth and i was told that somebody had breached the capital and becaus of your service you and your colleagues that we are here today. you are the last line