Three police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 riot will help President Joe Biden's campaign in battleground states ahead of next month’s debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump, the campaign announced Tuesday, NBC News reports. Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, former Police Officer Harry Dunn and Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel “Danny” Hodges will campaign in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire, the campaign said in a news release. The officers will meet with local elected officials, law enforcement organizations and community members to underscore what it described as the threat Trump poses to democracy and the “ongoing threat of political violence” if he is re-elected, the release said. Dunn was joined Tuesday by former Washington Police Officer Michael Fanone — who suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury after he was violently assaulted during the Capitol attack — and actor Robert De Niro at a news conference the Biden campaign held outside the New York City courthouse where Trump’s hush money trial is taking place. During the news conference, Dunn argued that Trump continues to pose "the greatest threat" to democracy as he seeks a second presidential term.
"The fight for a lot of us didn’t end on Jan. 6 that evening when we went home. The fight still continues now," Dunn said. "What happened that day was an attempt to halt, to overthrow, an election. Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today. He has encouraged and continues to encourage political violence. "Political violence is never acceptable. But you have a presidential candidate, you have a presidential candidate that champions it, that encourages it and supports it," he added. "We cannot have that." In a statement included in the Biden campaign’s news release, Dunn said Trump has gone so far as to say “there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses again and has promised to be a dictator on ‘day one’ and to pardon January 6 rioters.” The three officers have publicly detailed their harrowing experiences in battling Capitol rioters amid Trump’s claims of a rigged election and refusal to concede his loss on cable news at at the House Jan. 6 committee hearings.
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