'Slap in the face': Ex-Capitol policeman rips Trump over promised pardons of Jan. 6 rioters

12 November 2024

When he takes office on January 20, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump may follow through on his campaign promise to pardon scores of participants in the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol.

The potential wave of pardons is particularly offensive for former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who told CNN host Boris Sanchez that it would be "mind blowing" if some of the more violent participants in the mob were freed. He particularly blasted the incoming president for referring to jailed January 6 rioters as "hostages," and reminded CNN viewers that many of those who would be let out of jail assaulted law enforcement officers in an effort to violently overturn an election.

"You know, I followed the cases. I've testified in a few. I went to a lot of the sentencings. I stood by officers as they gave impact statements," Dunn said. "Let's be clear: They broke the law."

Dunn clarified that despite personally confronting participants in the deadly riot that resulted in the deaths of police officers like Officer Brian Sicknick and injured roughly 140 others, he was on the side of criminal justice reform and that "the punishment needs to fit the crime." However, he added that those who were found guilty of carrying out acts of violence on January 6 are fully deserving of their sentences.

"They were there unlawfully and they kept us from doing our job and securing the Capitol grounds that day," Dunn said, adding that he has "no sympathy" for people who attacked his colleagues.

"Even if they were there to protest a stolen election or they got caught up in the moment, that's no excuse for the crimes that they committed, and they need to be held accountable," he continued. "It would be a slap in the face to me, to law enforcement, to the American people if Donald Trump would come in and just overstep the Justice Department, but it shows that he has every intention of doing so. And I don't think it's okay."

"Those people that committed those crimes that are sentenced to multiple years, they assaulted police. They conspired to overthrow the government. They impeded police while they were doing their job," he added. "Those people, I believe they've been properly sentenced."

Trump has specifically mentioned that he wants to pardon January 6 participants incarcerated in the Washington, D.C. jail. And as New York University's Just Security publication reported earlier this year, many of the rioters in the D.C. jail are there specifically for assaulting law enforcement officers. While some were found guilty by juries, others pleaded guilty of their own volition.

Some participants in the insurrection have already changed their legal strategy in light of Trump's reelection. An attorney for defendant Christopher Carnell asked U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell last week to postpone a scheduled status hearing due to the "expected scope of clemency" from the president-elect.

Watch Dunn's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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