Former Capitol Police Officer's Ominous Prediction on Future of Democracy

Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer turned congressional candidate, issued a dire warning on Friday about the future of democracy ahead of the 2024 election.

Dunn, who spent 15 years as a Capitol police officer, was among those who responded to the violent mob that besieged the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and has been lauded as a hero for his efforts in protecting the members of Congress that day. In 2021, he provided testimony to the bipartisan House select committee in charge of investigating the insurrection. During his emotional comments, Dunn recalled being subjected to racial insults from people participating in the riot.

During a Friday interview appearance on MSNBC's The ReidOut, Dunn said that he doesn't "think it's an exaggeration to say we're one election from the extinction of democracy as we know it."

He added that he entered the Democratic primary for Maryland's 3rd Congressional District to do more to "fight for the Constitution."

"There's always something that can be done, and I feel like I have done everything I can in this fight for accountability, justice, to preserve democracy, to fight for the Constitution," Dunn told host Joy Reid. "I've done everything in my role as a Capitol police officer. But that's not enough democracy."

Dunn announced his congressional candidacy early Friday morning on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that former President Donald Trump was "hell-bent on finishing what he started" three years ago.

Maryland's 3rd Congressional District is a heavily Democratic jurisdiction that stretches between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Newsweek has reached out to Dunn via email for additional comment.

Dunn, who does not speak on behalf of the Capitol police, said he doesn't believe he has time to wait to retire.

"I resigned from the force, four years short of being able to collect a pension. Why? It's crazy, but I believe that democracy can't wait another four years until I'm able to comfortably retire," he said Friday. "I'm not going to sit back and wait for somebody else to do it. Everybody has a role to play and I believe right now, for this moment, I believe that I'm the person for that job."

In his testimony before Congress in 2021, Dunn described how rioters yelled racial slurs at him, adding that it was something that never happened to him while he was on duty during more than a dozen years on the force.

Dunn has previously said he was still receiving counseling for the trauma he suffered that day and also wrote a New York Times bestseller titled, Standing My Ground about his experience.

Meanwhile, more than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. About 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while about 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury, according to the Associated Press on Friday.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was indicted on four counts by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in August 2023 for his role in allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Capitol riot. A jury will be selected in Washington, D.C., in February with a trial date set for March 4, 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains his innocence.

Dunn was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in December 2022 and received the Presidential Citizens Medal on January 6, 2023.

The 40-year-old is among a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls running for Representative John Sarbanes' seat, who announced his retirement last year.

Dunn told Reid on Friday that he's eager to give House speeches alongside Republicans in Congress who have disputed the events of January 6.

"I will be serving alongside them, instead of underneath them. I get a seat at the table. They can't dismiss me as this angry pissed-off January 6 partisan hack," he said. "I can't be described as that anymore. I am an equal. You can't run away from the speeches that I'm going to give on the House floor. You can't run away from the legislation I'm going to put forward. You have to treat me as your equal."