me for what we confronted on january 6th. the verbal assaults, and disrespect we endure from the rioters were bad enough. i was falsely accused of betraying my oath, of choosing my paycheck, choosing my paycheck over my loyalty to the u.s. constitution, even as i defended the very democratic process that protected everyone in the hostile crowd. while i was working with my fellow officers to prevent the breach and restore order, the rioters called me "traitor," a disgrace, and shouted that i, i, an army veteran and a police officer, should be executed. some of the rioters had the

audacity to tell me it was nothing personal, that they would go through me, through us, police officers, to achieve their goal, as they were breaking metal barriers to use as weapons against us, or they used more menacing language. "if you shoot us, we all have weapons. we will shoot back." or "we'll get our guns. we outnumber you," they said. "join us." i heard specific threats to the lives of speaker nancy pelosi and then also vice president mike pence. the physical violence we experienced was horrific and devastating, my fellow officers and i would punch, kick, shove, spray with chemical irritants, and even blinded with eye-damaging lasers by a violent

mob, apparently who apparently saw us, law enforcement, officers dedicated to ironically protecting them as u.s. citizens, as an impediment to their attempted insurrection. the mob brought weapons to try to accomplish their insurrectionist objectives, and use them against us. these weapons, including hammers, rebars, knives, baton and police shield taken by force, as well as bear spray and pepper spray. some of the rioters wore tactical gear, including bullet proof vests and gas masks, the rioter also forcibly took out batons and shields to use them against us. i was particularly shocked at the scene the insurrectionists violently attacked us with the very american flag that they claimed to protect.

based on the coordinated attacks we observed and verbal commands we heard, it appears that many of these attackers had law enforcement or military experience. the rioters were relentless. we found ourselves in a violent battle, desperate to attempt to prevent a breach of the capitol by the entrance near the integration stage. metropolitan police officers were being pulled into the crowd. we had one right here, right next to me. as we tried to push the rioters back from the breach in the capitol, my attempt to assist two mpd officers, i grabbed one officer by the back of the collar and pulled him back to the police line. when i tried to help the second officer, i fell on top of some police shields on the ground that were slippery because the

pepper spray and bear spray. rioters immediately began to pull me by my leg, by my shield, by my strap on my left shoulder. my survival instincts kicked in and i started kicking and punching, as i tried in vain to get the mpd officer's attention behind and above me, but they could not help me because they also were being attacked. i finally was able to hit the rioter who was grabbing me with my baton, unable to stand. then i continued to fend off new attackers, as they were attacking those again and again. what we were subjected was like something from a medieval battle. we fought hand-to-hand, inch by

inch, to prevent an invasion of the capitol by a violent mob, intent on subverting our democratic process. my fellow officers and i were committed to not letting any rioters breach the capitol. it was for a prolonged and desperate struggle, that rioters attempted to breach the capitol were shouting "trump sent us. pick the right side. we want trump." i heard officers screaming in agony, in pain, just an arm's length from me. i didn't know at that time but that was officer hodges. he's here today to testify. i, too, was being crushed by the rioters. i could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, this is how i'm going to

die, defending this entrance. many of the officers fighting alongside me were calling for shields, because their shields had been stripped from them by the rioters. i was one of the few officers left with a shield, so i spent the majority of my time at the front of the line. i later found out that my wife and relatives here in the u.s. and abroad were frantically calling and texting me from 2:00 p.m. onward, because they were watching the turmoil on television. it was now 4:26 p.m. after

giving cpr to a rioter that breached the capitol to save her life i finally had a chance to let my own family know that i was alive. after order has finally has been restored at the capitol and many hours i was home at 4:00 a.m. on january 7. i had to push my wife away from me because she wanted to hug me and i told her, no, because of all the chemicals that my uniform had on. sorry.

i couldn't sleep because the chemical reactivated after i took a shower and my skin was burning. i finally fell asleep two hours later, completely physically and mentally exhausted, yet by 8:00 a.m., i was already back, on my way back to the capitol. and i continued to work for 15 consecutive days until after the inauguration. i made sure to work, despite my injuries, because i wanted to continue doing my job and help secure the capitol complex. more than six months later, i'm still trying to recover from my injuries. many of my fellow capitol officers as well as mpd officers

suffer terrible physical injuries from the violence inflicted on us on january 6th. i sustained injuries on both my hands, my left shoulder, my left calf, and my right foot. i already have undergone bone fusion surgery on my right foot, and i was just told that i need surgery on my left shoulder. i have been on medical and administrative leave for much of the past six months and i expect to need further rehabilitation for possibly more than a year. there are some who express outrage when someone kneels by calling for social justice. where are those same people expressing the outrage could condemn the violent attack on law enforcement at the capitol, and our american democracy? i'm still waiting for them.

as an american in the war, watching horror, what was happening at the capitol, we did not receive timely reinforcement and support we needed. in contrast, during the black lives matter protests last year, u.s. capitol police had all the support we needed and more. why the different response, were it not for the brave members of the mpd and late on from other law enforcement agencies, i'm afraid to think what could have happened on january 6th. i want to publicly thank all the law enforcement agencies that responded to assist that day, for the courage and their support, especially i want to thank those capitol police officers who responded on their own from home, after working midnight shifts. despite being outnumbered, we

did our job. every member of the house of representatives, senators and staff members made it home. sadly, as a result of that day we lost officers, some really good officers, but we held the line to protect our democratic process, because the alternative would have been a disaster. we are not asking for medals, recognition. we simply want justice and accountability. for most people, january 6th happened for a few hours. but for us, for those of us who were in the thick of it, it has not ended. they continue to be a constant trauma for us literally every day, whether it's because of our physical or emotional injuries or both, why it has not received

much attention, sadly many of my colleagues quietly resigned from the capitol because of that day. i'm called by enforcement owe fishes and prosecutors to help identify from photographs and videos the rioters. and to be honest, physical therapy is painful and hard. i could have lost my life that day, not once, but many times, but as soon as i recover from my injuries, i will continue forward and proudly serve my country in the u.s. capitol police. as an immigrant to the united states, i'm especially proud to have defended the u.s. constitution and our democracy on january 6th. i hope that everyone in the position of authority in our country has the courage and

conviction to do their part by investigating what happened on the terrible day and why. this investigation is essential to our democracy and i'm deeply grateful to you for undertaking it. i'm happy to assist as i can, and answer any questions you may have, to the best of my ability. thank you. >> thank you very much for your riveting testimony, sergeant gonell. i recognize officer fanone to summarize his testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of this committee for inviting me to provide my eyewitness testimony of the violent assault on our nation's capitol on january 6th, 2021. my name for those of you who don't know is michael fanone. while i've been a sworn officer with the metropolitan police department in washington, d.c.,

for almost two decades, my law enforcement career actually began here in this building as united states capitol police officer shortly after 9/11. in part because of the 2001 attack on our country by terrorists, i felt called to serve. as a capitol police officer, i was proud to protect this institution and dedicated members of congress and their staff who work hard each day to uphold our american democracy. i remain proud of the work of the united states capitol police, and mpd officers who literally commit their lives to protecting the safety of each of you and all of us in this room, in our nation's capitol. after leaving the united states capitol police, i became an mpd officer serving the residents of washington, d.c. i have spent the majority of my nearly 20 years as a metropolitan police officer working in special mission

units, whose responsibilities include the investigation and arrest of narcotics traffickers and violent criminals. i've worked both as an undercover officer and a lead case officer in many of these investigations. in this line of work, it probably won't shock you to know that i've dealt with some dicey situations. i thought i had seen it all, many times over. yet what i witnessed and experienced on january 6th, 2021, was unlike anything i had ever seen, anything i'd ever experienced or could have imagined in my country. on that day, i participated in the defense of the united states capitol from an armed mob, an armed mob of thousands determined to get inside, because i was among the vastly outnumbered group of law enforcement officers protecting the capitol and the people inside it, i was grabbed,

beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. i was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm, as i heard chants of "kill him with his own gun." i could still hear those words in my head today. although i regularly deal with risky situations on the job, nowhere in my wildest imagination did i ever expect to be in that situation, or sitting here before you talking about it. that experience and its aftermath were something that not even my extensive law enforcement training could prepare me for. i was just one of hundreds of local police who lined up to protect congress, even though i had not been assigned to do that. some had asked why we ran to help, when we didn't have to. i did that because i simply could not ignore what was happening. like many other officers, i

could not ignore the numerous calls, numerous calls for help coming from the capitol complex. i'm a plain clothed officer, assigned to the first district's crime suppression team, but for the first time in nearly a decade, i put on my uniform. when my partner, jimmy albright and i arrived at the capitol around 3:00 that afternoon, it was like un -- excuse me, it was unlike any scene i had ever witnessed. jimmy parked our police vehicle near the intersection of south capitol street and d street in southeast, and we walked to the capitol. from there, passing the long wharf house office building. it was eerily quiet and the sidewalks usually filled with pedestrians were empty. as we made our way to independence avenue, i could see dozens of empty police vehicles that filled the street, police barricades which had been abandoned and hundreds of angry

protesters, many of whom taunted us as we walked towards the capitol building. jimmy and i immediately began to search for an area where we could be of most assistance. we made our way through a door on the south side of the capitol, walking then to the crypt and finally down to the lower west terrace tunnel. it was there that i observed a police commander struggling to breathe as he dealt with the effects of cs gas that lingered in the air. then i watched him collect himself, straighten his cap and trench coat, adorned with its silver eagles, and return to the line. that commander was ramie kyle of the metropolitan police department and those images are etched into my memory, never to be forgotten. in the midst of that intense and chaotic scene, commander kyle remained cool, calm and collected, as he gave commands to his officers, "hold the line"

he shouted over the roar. of course that day, the line was the seat of our american government, despite the confusion and stress of the situation observing the leadership, protecting the place i cared so much about was the most inspirational moment of my life. the bravery he and others showed that day are the best examples of duty, honor, and service. each of us who carries a badge should bring those core values to our work every day. the fighting in the lower west terrace tunnel was nothing short of brutal. here i observed approximately 30 police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, maybe four or five abreast, using the weight of their bodies to hold back the onslaught of violent attackers. many of these officers were injured, bleeding, and fatigued, but they continue to hold the line. as i don't have to tell the members in this room, the tunnel

is a narrow and long hallway. it is not the sort of space anyone would want to be pulled into hand-to-hand combat with an angry mob. although the narrowness of the hallway provided what was probably the only chance of holding back the crowd from entering your personal offices, the house, and senate chambers. in an attempt to assist injured officers, jimmy and i asked them if they needed a break. there were no volunteers. selflessly those officers identified other colleagues who may be in need of assistance. the fighting dragged on. i eventually joined the tactical line at the tunnel's entrance. i can remember looking arched and being shocked by the sheer number of people fighting us. as my police body-worn camera shows, thousands upon thousands of people seemingly determined

to get past us by any means necessary. at some point during the fighting, i was dragged from the line of officers and into the crowd. i heard someone scream "i got one!" as i was swarmed by a violent mob, they ripped off my badge, they grabbed and stripped me of my radio. they seized ammunition that was secured to my body. they began to beat me with their fists and with what felt like hard metal objects. at one point i came face to face with an attacker who repeatedly lunged for me and attempted to remove my firearm. i heard chanting from some in the crowd "get his gun and kill him with his own gun." i was aware enough to recognize i was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm. i was electrocuted again and again and again with a taser.

i'm sure i was screaming, but i don't think i could even hear my own voice. my body camera captured the violence of the crowd directed toward me during those very frightening moments. it's an important part of the record for this committee's investigation and for the country's understanding of how i was assaulted and nearly killed as the mob attacked the capitol that day. and i hope that everyone will be able to watch it, the portions of the video i've seen remained extremely painful for me to watch at times, but it is essential that everyone understands what really happened that tragic day. during those moments, i remember thinking there was a very good chance i would be torn apart or shot to death with my own weapon. i thought of my four daughters who might lose their dad. i remain grateful that no member of congress had to go through the violent assault that i experienced that day. during the assault, i thought about using my firearm on my

attackers, but i knew that if i did, i would be quickly overwhelmed. and that in their minds would provide them with the justification for killing me, so i instead decided to appeal to any humanity they might have. i said as loud as i could manage "i've got kids." thankfully some in the crowd stepped in and assisted me. those few individuals protected me from a crowd and inched me toward the capitol until my fellow officers could rescue me. i was carried back inside. what happened afterwards is much less vivid. i had been beaten unconscious and remained so for more than four minutes. i know that jimmy helped to evacuate me from the building and drove me to med star washington hospital center, despite suffering significant injuries himself. at the hospital, doctors told me that i had suffered a heart attack and i was later diagnosed

with a concussion, a traumatic brain injury, and post traumatic stress disorder. as my physical injuries gradually subsided and the adrenalin that had stayed with me for weeks waned, i've been left with the psychological trauma and emotional anxiety of having survived such a horrific event. my children continue to deal with the trauma of nearly losing their dad that day. what makes the struggle harder and more painful is to know so many of my fellow citizens, including so many of the people i put my life at risk to defend, are downplaying or outright denying what happened. i feel like i went to hell and back to protect them, and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn't exist or that hell actually wasn't that bad.

the indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful! my law enforcement career prepared me to cope with some of the aspects of this experience. being an officer, you know your life is at risk whenever you walk out the door, even if you don't expect otherwise law-abiding citizens to take up arms against you, but nothing, truly nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so, betray their oath of office. those very members whose lives, offices, staff members i was fighting so desperately to defend, i agreed to speak here today and have talked publicly about what happened because i don't think our response to the insurrection should have anything to do with political

parties. i know that what my partner jimmy and i suited up for on january 6th didn't have anything to do with political parties or about politics or what political party any of you public servants belong to. i've worked in this city for two decades, and i've never cared about those things. no matter who was in office. all i've ever cared about is protecting you and the public, so you can do your job and service to this country, and for those whom you represent. i appreciate your time and attention. i look forward to the committee's investigation, and i am hopeful with your commitment we as a country will confront the truth of what happened on january 6th, and do what is necessary to make sure this institution of our democracy

never falls into the hands of a violent and angry mob. we must also recognize the officers who responded that day, many unsolicited, in their countless acts of bravery selflessness. it's been 202 since 850 mpd officers responded to the capitol and helped stop a violent insurrection from taking over this capitol complex, which almost certainly saved countless members of congress and their staff from injury and possibly death. the time to fully recognize these officers is now. thank you again for the opportunity to provide my testimony here today. >> thank you very much for your testimony. i don't think there's any question, you have our commitment that we will do just that, as a committee. >> thank you, sir. >> i now recognize officer hodges to summarize his testimony.

>> good morning to the committee, members of the press, and to the country. the members of the committee i'd like to thank you for your invitation today to provide my account of my knowledge and experiences from january 6th, 2021. as the chairman mentioned, i am a member of civil disturbance unit 42 and working in that capacity on the day in question. we started that day at 7:30 a.m. and our assignment was to maintain high visibility along constitution avenue, namely the blocks leading up to presidents park where then president donald trump was holding his gathering. my particular station was in front of 1111 constitution avenue, where i stood on foot as the crowd poured down the street and entered the park. there were significant number of men dressed in tactical gear attending the gathering, wearing ballistic vests, helmets, goggles, military face masks, backpacks and without

identifiable visible law enforcement or military patches, they appeared to be prepared for much more than listening to politicians speak at a park. two of my colleagues were approached by a group of three to four such men, they were white men in good shape, with load bearing vests, equipped with molly patches, wearing bdu, battle dress uniform pants, sunglasses and short haircuts, had radios and one was equipped with an earpiece. after a bit of small talk one of them asked my colleagues is this all the manpower you have? do you really think you'll be able to stop all these people?" dumbfounded my colleague simply expressed they didn't understand what the speaker meant and the group continued on. as the day went on, and speakers in the park said their piece, i monitored the crowd on the radio. over the radio i heard my gun recovery unit working constantly, monitoring those in the crowd suspected of carrying firearnls, making arrests and seizures when possible. multiple gun arrests were made

january 5th through the 7th against those attending likely attended or planned to attend donald trump's gathering. unfortunately due to the course of events that day, we will never know exactly how many were carrying firearms and other lethal weapons. i don't know what time it was but eventually the foot traffic reversed with people leaving presidents park and traveling eastbound down constitution avenue towards the united states capitol. at approximately 12:30 p.m., i noticed a commotion about half a block to my east and saw a crowd starting to coalesce around two figures. i ran to where they were and found a confrontation at the intersection of tenth and constitution avenue northwest. one counter protester, a black man was back pedaling away from a white man on a trump labeled face mask, closely following him with an outstretched arm. myself and my colleague first arrived and physically separated the two, but a crowd of donald trump's people had gathered, they attempted to bait the counter protester into attacking, shouting insults such as "your mother's a whore" and

accusing of hiding behind the cops. eventually, enough mpd members gathered to move along the crowd who continued eastbound toward the capitol building and on the street. i continued to monitor the radio and hear commander dlofr the protesters began their transition from peaceful assembly into terrorism. i became agitated and wushd we could move in to sport as i could hear the increasing desperation of the commander's voice, yet we had to wait for our orders to change. eventually they did, at approximately 1:30 p.m., the commander authorized rapid response platoons to deploy hard gear and respond to the capitol, including cdu 42. the last thing i remember hearing over the air before departing for the capitol grounds was confirmation our explosive ordinance team discovered a device, associated with the device, i immediately realized mpd discovered a bomb

of some type near the capitol. this thought was never far from my mind for the rest of the day. we ran back to our vans and got on our hard gear as quickly as we could. navigating the routes to avoid the fat traffic we drove as close as we could to the capitol, disembarking at the northwest side of the capitol grounds, gave our gear a final check and marched towards the west terrace. the crowd was thinner the further out from the capitol you were. so as we marched, the resistance we initially met was verbal, a man sarcastically yelled "here come the boys in blue, so brave." another called on us to "remember your oath." there was plenty of booing, a woman called us stormtroopers, another woman who was part of the mob of terrorists laying siege to the capitol of the united states shouted "traitors." more shouted "traitors" as we peaced. one man attempted to turn into a

dual syllabic chant. the crowd became so dense in order to progress we marched single file with our hands on the shoulders of the man in front of us in order to avoid separation. however, as we came close to the terrorists our line was divided and we came under attack. a man attempted to rip the baton from my hands and we wrestled for control. i retained my weapon after i pushed him back. he yelled at me "you're on the wrong team." cut off from our leadership, which is at the front of the formation we huddled up and assessed the threats surrounding us. one man failed a rapport "are you my brother?" another shouts "you will die on your knees." i was at the front of our group and determined we had to push our way through the crowd in order to join the defense proper so i began shouting "make way" as i forged ahead, hoping that i'm clearing a path for others behind me to follow. however as i looked back, i saw

that the rest of the group came under attack and were unable to follow. the crowd attempted to physically bar the rest of the platoon from following. i backtrack and started pulling the terrorists off my team from their backpacks and their collars. around this time, one of the terrorists who had scaled the scaffolding that adorned the capitol at the time threw something heavy and struck me in the head, disorienting me. i suspect this dealt in the concussion i dealt with in the weeks after. another man attempted to disarm me of my baton and we wrestled for control. he kicked me in my chest as we went to the ground, i was able to retain my baton again but i ended up on my hands and knees and blind. the medical mask i was wearing at the time to protect himself from the coronavirus was pulled up over my eyes so i couldn't see. i braced myself against the impact of their blows and feared the worst. thankfully my platoon rah peld

around the attackers and got me back on my feet. the crowd chanted "usa" at us and we struck out again for the west terrace. i led the charge through the midst of crowd control munitions, explosions and smoke engulfing the area, terrorists were breaking apart the metal fencing and bike racks in individual pieces presumably to use as weapons. thankfully we made it to the secondary defense line on the west terrace that mpd and capitol police were managing to hold. we got behind the line and could take stock of the situation. i realized back during the previous assault someone had stolen my radio and from that point on i was in the dark as to our current status, when reinforcements would arrive, terrorists were scaling the scaffolding on both of our sides of the tower in nt from of us and attempting to breach the waist high metal fencing that was the only barrier we had aside from ourselves. the sea of people was punctuated throughout by flags, mostly variations of american flags and

trump flags, there was gadsen flags, it was clear the terrorists perceived themselves to be christians. i saw the christian flag to my front, another "jesus is my savior, trump is my president." another "jesus is king." one flag read "don't give up the ship." another had crossed rifles beneath a skull emblazoned with the pattern of the american flag. it was my perpetual confusion, i saw the thin blue line flag a sip boll of support for law enforcement, more than once, being carried by the terrorists as they ignored our commands and continued to assault us. the sting of cs gas or tear gas and oc spray, which is mace, hung in the air as the terrorists threw their own cs gas, threw our own gas canisters with us and sprayed us with their own oc either they bought themselves or stole from us. later i learned one was spraying us in the face with wasp spray. the terrorists alternated between attempting to break our

defenses and shouting at or attempting to convert us, men alleging to be veterans told us they fought for this country and were fighting for it again. one man tried to start a chant of "four more years." another shouted "do not attack us. we're not black lives matter," as if political affiliation is how we determine when to use force. a man in a qanon hoodie ex-claims "this is the time to choose which side of history to be on." a man shoz shirt reads "god, guns and trump" stood behind him silently holding a trump flag. a new man came to the front and fixated on me continually berating me telling me to take off my gear and give it to him to sew solidarity with we the people or we're going to run over you, his voice cracking with the strain and volume of his threats. he continued "do you think your little pea shooter guns are going to stop this crowd? no, we're going in that building." eventually there is a surge in the crowd, the fence buckled and broke apart action and we were

unable to hold the line. a chaotic melee ensued, terrorists pushed through the line and gauged us in hand-to-hand combat. several attempted to knock me over and steal my baton. one latched onto my face and got his thumb in my right eye, attempting to gouge it out. i cried out in pain, managed to shake him off. managed to shake him off before any permanent damage was done. i couldn't fully engage anyone, for the moment i do one another 20 terrorists attack while my hands are full. it was all we could do to keep ourselves on our feet and fall back. i sprayed with the fire extinguisher and a red smoke degrade burns at our feet. in the fight, a terrorist is knocked to the ground as jacket rides up exposing a large hunting knife on his belt. a long with several other officers piled on him, while another removed the knife from his person. he regained himself unharmed and

shouts indignantly "what are you doing? what you guys doing?" at this point, the terrorists claimed most of the western terrace, cornering myself and other officers on the southern edge. we found a side stair off of the terrace to another landing followed by more stairs up and inside. inside the capitol building, officers walked through the halls briefly until they found a place to sit, decontaminate their faces and take a quick breather. i followed suit. managed to find a package of water bottles and passing them out. i washed off my face, rinsed out my mouth and drank the rest, took the opportunity of relative safety to don my gas mask. i heard someone for officers to assist. i sealed myself for another round and descended into a hallway filled with smoke and screams. capitol building is labyrinth but judging from the sound of

intense combat i could tell this hallway led outside to where the terrorist retreat. officers were stacked deep but every so often one would fall back from the front line nursing an injury or struggling to breathe and those who remain would take a step forward. it was a battle of inches, with one side pushing the other a few and the other side regaining their ground. at the time, i and i suspect many others in the hallway did not know that the terrorists had gained entry into the building by breaking in doors and windows elsewhere, so we believed ours to be the last line of defense before the terrorists had true access to the building and potentially our elected representatives. eventually it was my turn in the meat grinder that was the front line, the terrorists had a wall of shields they had stolen from officers as well as stolen batons, whatever armaments they brought. the contest of wills they tried to convert us to their cult. one man shouted we want to make our voices heard and i think you feel the same. i really think you feel the same. all while another man attempts to batter us with a stolen

shield, another man like many others didn't seem to appreciate this wasn't a game. he fought his way across the lawn up the steps through the western terrace, all the oc and cs gas and at the front line of the final threshold asking us to hold on because he has asthma. a metal door frame sat in the middle of of the doorway. i inserted myself so the frame was at my back to give myself something to brace again to provide adecisional strength on pushing forward. unfortunately soon after i secured this position, the momentum shifted and we lost the ground that got me there. on my left was a man with a clear shield stolen during the assault, he slammed it against me and with all the weight of the bodies pushing behind him, trapped him. my arms were pinned and effectively useless. trapped against the shield on my left or the door frame on my right, with my posture, granting

me no functional strength for freedom of movement. i was effectively defenseless and gradually sustaining injury from the increasing pressure of the mob. directly in front of me a man seized the opportunity to give my vulnerability, grabbed the front of my gas mask and used it to beat my head against the door. he switched to pulling it off my head, the straps stretching against my skull and straining my neck. he never uttered my words but opted for gutteral screams. i remember him foaming at the mouth, he also put his cell phone in his mouth so he had both hands free to assault me. eventually he succeeded in stripping away my gas mask and a new rush of exposure to cs and oc spray hit me. a mob of terrorists were coordinating their efforts now shouting "heave-ho" as they synchronized pushing their way forward crushing me further against the metal door frame. a man grabbed my baton i still held in my hands and current state i was unable to retain my weapon. he bashed me in the head and face with t rupturing my lip and

adding additional injury to my skull. at this point, i knew i couldn't sustain much more damage and remained upright. at best, i would collapse and be a liability to my colleagues, at worst be dragged out into the crowd and lynched, unable to move or otherwise signal the officers behind me i needed to fall back. i did the only thing that i could do and screamed for help. thankfully my voice was heard over the cacophony of yells and the blaring alarm. the officer closest to me was able to extricate me from my position and another helped me fall back to the building again. i found some more water and decontaminated my face as best i could. i don't know how long i waited in the halls but i went to where the fight was again until reinforcements arrived, every able body made a difference. without my gas mask, i was afraid i'd be a liability in the hallway, so i took the exit

outside of the upper landing above the west terrace. i found a police line being held and the terrorists encircling us much like the west terrace lower, it was getting later in the day, however, and it appeared we weren't the only ones getting tired. it seemed most of the mob was content to yell rather than try and break our line again. after some time of guarding the upper landing i saw reinforcements arrive from the south. i'm not sure which agency it was but i turned to them and started clapping. as it was a sign badly needed help was starting to finally arrive. soon after that, i started feeling the effects of the day taking their toll and went back inside to rest. gradually all the members of cdu 42 gathered in the room known as the capital crypt, we checked on each other and glad to see each other in peace. despite our exhaustion we run out to fight again. as the day wore on more and more resources arrived at the capitol

to drive off the terrorists. we stayed in the crypt until quite late. even after we were allowed to leave the grounds, we didn't get to go home. those who needed immediate medical attention took a van to the local hospital while the rest of us parked near the city center until the city was deemed secure enough for us to check off. i believe we finally got that message around 1:00 a.m., the following morning. we drove back to the fourth district and from there went home. thank you for letting me testify. >> thank you very much for your testimony. i now recognize officer dunn to summarize his testimony. >> chairman thompson, members of the select committee thank you for the opportunity today to give my account regarding the event of january 6th, 2021.

from my firsthand experience as a capitol police officer, directly involved in those events, and still hurting from what happened that day, i am providing this testimony solely in my personal capacity and not as a representative of the united states capitol police. before i begin, before i begin, i'd like to take a moment of my time to ask for a moment of silence for my fallen colleague, officer bri brian sicknick who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the capitol of our beloved democracy. [ moment of silence ] thank you. i reported for duty at the capitol as usual early on the morning of january 6th. we understood that the vote to

certify president biden's election will be taking place that day and protests might occur outside the capitol. but we expect any demonstrations to be peaceful expresses of first amendment freedoms, just like the scores of demonstrations we had observed for many years. after roll call, i took my overwatch post on the east front of the capitol, standing on the steps that led up to the senate chamber. as the morning progressed, i did not see or hear anything that gave me cause for alarm. but around 10:56 a.m., i received a text message from a friend forwarding a screen shot of what appeared to be the potential plan of action, very different from a peaceful demonstration, the screen shot bore the caption "january 6th, rally point, lincoln park." said the objective was the

capitol. it said amongst other things that trump has given us marching orders and to keep your guns hidden. it urged people to bring your trauma kits and gas masks to link up early in the day in six to 12-man teams. it indicated there would be time to arm up. seeing that message caused me concern. to be sure, looking back now, it seemed to foreshadow what happened later. at the time, though, we had not received any threat warnings from our chain of command. i had no independent reason to believe that violence was headed our way. as the morning progressed and the crowd of protesters began to swell on the east side of the capitol, many displaying trump flags, the crowd was chanting slogans like "stop the steal"

and "we want trump." but demonstration was still being conducted in a peaceful manner. earlier that afternoon, capitol police dispatch advised all units over the radio that we had an active 10-100 at the republican national committee nearby. 10-100 is police code for suspicious package such as a potential bomb. that radio dispatch got my attention, and i started to get more nervous and worried, especially because the crowds on the east front of the capitol were continuing to grow. around the same time, i started receiving reports on the radio about large crowd movements around the capitol, coming from the direction of the ellipse to both the west and east fronts of the capitol. then i heard urgent radio calls for additional officers to respond to the west side and an

exclamation, a desperate voice that demonstrators on the west side had breached the fence. now it was obvious that there was a direct threat to the capitol. i quickly put on a steel chest plate, which weighs approximately 20 pounds, and carrying my m4 rifle sprinted around my rifle sprinted around to the north side of the capitol and the railing of the inaugural stage, where i had a broad view of what was going on. i was stunned by what i saw. what seemed like a sea of people, capitol officers and metropolitan police officers, mpd, were engaged in desperate hand to hand fighting with rioters across the west lawn. until then i had never seen anyone physically assault capitol police or npd, and let alone mass assaults being perpetrated on law enforcement

officers. i saw rioters using weapons against officers, including flagpoles and various projectiles. many officers were screaming and blinded and coughing from chemical irritants being sprayed in their faces. i gave decontamination aid to as many officers as i could, flushing their eyes with water to dilute the chemical irritants. soon after i heard that rioters were inside the building. at that point i rushed into the capitol with another officer going first to the basement on the senate side where i heard a officer needed a defibrillator. after returning outside to the

west terrace to assist other officers, i saw rioters that invaded the capitol carrying a confederate flag, a red maga flag, and a don't tread on me flag. i decided to stand my ground there to prevent any rioters from heading downstairs to the low west terrace entrance, because that's where officers were getting decontamination aid and were particularly vulnerable. at the top of the stairs i confronted a group of insurrectionists to warn them not to go back down the steps, and one yelled, keep moving patriots, and another man told me, we're doing this for you. one of the invaders approached me like he was going to try and get past me and get down the stairs, and i hit him knocking him down. after getting relieved by other officers in the crypt, i took

off running upstairs towards the speaker's lobby, and helped the plain clothes officer who was getting hassled by the insurrectionists. some were wearing tactical vests, cargo pants and body armour. i was physically exhausted and it was hard to breathe and see because of all the chemical spray in the air. more and more insurrectionists were pour into the area by the speaker's lobby near the rotunda, some wearing maga hats and shirts that said trump 2020. i told them to just leave the capitol and in response they yelled, no, man, this is our house. president trump invited us here. we're here to stop the steal. joe biden is not the president.

nobody voted for joe biden. i am a law enforcement officer. i do my best to keep politics out of my job, but in this circumstance i responded, well, i voted for joe biden. does my vote not count? am i nobody? that prompted racial ep athets, and one woman in pink yelled, did you hear that, guys, that [expletive] voted for joe biden. nobody ever called me that while wearing the uniform of a capitol police officer. in the days following the attempted insurrection, other

black officers shared with me their experiences, and one officer said he never in his 40 years of life had been called that to his wife and that streak ended on january 6th. yet another black officer told me he had been confronted by insurrectionists in the capitol that told him to put your gun down, and we will show you what kind of [expletive] you really are. in the crypt i encountered a sergeant giving aid to a unconscious woman. i helped to carry her to the house of the majority leader's office where she was administered cpr. as the afternoon wore on, i was

drained emotionally and physically, and in shock and in total disbelief over what had happened. once the building cleared i went to the rotunda to recover with other officers and share our experiences from that afternoon. representative rodney davis was there and he came over and gave me a big hug. i sat down on the bench in the rotunda with a friend of mine who is also a black capitol police officer. i told him about the racial slurs i endured and became very emotional and began yelling how in the blank could something like this happen? is this america? i began sobbing and other officers came over to console me.

later on january 6th, after order and security had been restored in the capitol through the hard work and sacrifices of law enforcement, members took the floor of the house to speak out about what had happened that day. among them was house minority leader, kevin mccarthy, who along with my fellow officers, i had protected that day and will protect today and tomorrow, i had protected that day and will protect today and tomorrow. the minority leader, to his great credit, said the following to the house. the violence, destruction and chaos we saw earlier was unacceptable, undemocratic and un-american. it was the saddest day i have ever had serving in this institution, end quote.

members of the select committee, the minority leader was absolutely right. how he described what took place in the capitol, and for those of us in the capitol police who serve and revere this institution and love the capitol building, it was the saddest day for us as well. more than six months later, january 6th is still not over for me. i have had to avail myself of multiple counseling sessions from the capitol police assistance program, and i am now receiving therapy for the persistent emotional trauma of that day. i also participated in many pier support programs with fellow officers from around the united states. i know so many other officers continue to hurt, both physically and emotionally. i want to take this moment to speak to my fellow officers about the emotions they are

continuing to experience from the events of january 6th. there's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional counseling. what we went through that day was traumatic, and you are hurting please take advantage of the counseling services that are available to us. i also respectfully ask this select committee reviewed available resources, the services available to us and consider whether they are sufficient enough to meet our needs, especially with respect to the amount of leave that we are allowed. in closing, we can never again allow democracy to be put in peril as it was on january 6th. i thank the members of the select committee for your commitment to determine what led to disaster at the capitol on january 6th, what actually took place that day and what steps should be taken to prevent such an attack on our democracy from ever happening again.

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