Several police officers who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol are in the hearing room to watch former special counsel Jack Smith testify in public for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee.
They include Michael Fanone, Daniel Hodges, Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn. In an interview, Fanone — who was seated in the front row — said he was present to support Smith and hoped the former prosecutor would simply share the truth with the American public.
Smith led the criminal case around allegations that President Donald Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election, culminating in a violent riot of his supporters at the Capitol the day lawmakers were gathered to certify the results for Joe Biden.
Gonell, asked whether he was concerned Republicans may try to incriminate Smith, said the GOP response was uncontrollable, but it was nevertheless important for the public to hear the case against Trump that Smith never got to make.
“Whatever they want to do, it’s not going to wash away what was done to us and to the Capitol,” Gonell said of Republicans. “It’s about accountability and what was the betrayal [that] was done to not only us, but to the American people.”
House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) welcomed them to the hearing room as the proceedings kicked off.