A former U.S. Capitol Police officer who witnessed the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was disappointed but not surprised by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s announcement this week he will drop election interference charges against President-elect Donald Trump.
“We expected it, we saw it coming, we knew it was a possibility when Donald Trump won the election, so we had time to prepare for it, but it still was a little disheartening,” Harry Dunn told News4. “I believe that’s one of the main reasons why he was running for president — not necessarily to help move the country forward and unite people, but was to escape accountability — and it looks that he’s appeared to do that, at least for this moment right now.”
Dunn was at the Capitol on Jan. 6and has testified before Congress about the violence he experienced that day.
As of three weeks ago, 1,561 people were charged with federal crimes associated with the attack on the Capitol. Of them, 979 pleaded guilty, and 210 were found guilty at trial.
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Trump has pledged to pardon Jan. 6 defendants when he takes office.
“That’s kinda a little disheartening,” Dunn said. “You know, listening to the rhetoric Donald Trump said at his rallies, I don’t believe there are people serving years in jail for trespassing. People that are serving years in jail were assaulting police officers, were impeding police from doing their job. And if those are the type of people he’s going to pardon, then that’s just, it’s a slap in the face to the people that were there that day.”
“I’m all for criminal justice reform,” Dunn said. “So, if they want to have that discussion about making sentences fair, sure, then let’s have that discussion. But I haven’t seen anything that says that people are being sentenced to years and years in jail just for trespassing or holding up a sign or peacefully protesting. I don’t know those cases to exist.”
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Dunn ran for a U.S. House seat in Maryland earlier this year but lost in the Democratic primary. He said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of running for office again.
Trump responded to the news of his election interference charges being dropped, writing on Truth Social, “These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”
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