Three police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol against violent rioters on Jan. 6, 2021 were in the courtroom for former President Donald Trump’s hearing Thursday after he surrendered on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 defeat in the election.
Daniel Hodges and Aquilino Gonnell were injured, and Harry Dunn was chased by violent protesters. Hodges was a District of Columbia police officer, and Dunn and Gonnell worked for the U.S. Capitol police, tasked with protecting the Capitol and the lawmakers inside.
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WATCH HERE“All I have wanted from day one is accountability,” Dunn said in a statement released by his lawyer after he went into the federal court in Washington, D.C.
Special counsel Jack Smith entered the courtroom shortly after the officers were seen inside.
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SIGN UP Trump arrived at the federal courthouse in Washington to surrender to authorities on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 defeat in the presidential election.
Trump’s motorcade made its way through D.C.’s crowded roads, using lights and sirens and onlookers flanked the streets as the former president arrived at the courthouse.
The early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination was set to appear before a magistrate judge on charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States. The courthouse sits within sight of the U.S. Capitol that his supporters attacked on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
It’s the third criminal case filed against Trump this year, but the first to try to hold him criminally responsible for his efforts to cling to power in the weeks between his election loss and the Capitol attack that stunned the world as it unfolded live on TV.
Trump has said he did nothing wrong and has accused special counsel Jack Smith of trying to thwart his chances of returning to the White House in 2024.
Trump has denied all charges. Before flying to Washington, Trump took to social media to again criticize the case as politically motivated and repeat his baseless claim that the 2020 election was “crooked.”
The indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump's arraignment was set for the same courthouse where more than 1,000 of his supporters fueled by his false claims of election fraud have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump is charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and obstructing an official proceeding. He’s also accused of violating a post-Civil War era civil rights statute that prohibits conspiring to interfere with rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution — in this case, the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.
It’s the third time this year the early 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner had to answer to criminal charges in court.
It comes nearly two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents and thwarting government efforts to retrieve them.
