"I defended the Capitol from Trump's mob. I know he's an insurrectionist."

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4545719-i-defended-the-capitol-from-trumps-mob-i-know-hes-an-insurrectionist/

When I received my acceptance letter almost a decade ago to the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., my imagination raced with the intense, life-or-death scenarios I would be confronted with on a regular basis in order to protect and serve the residents of our nation’s capital.

But even while contemplating such scenarios, I never imagined what I experienced on Jan. 6, 2021, or that I would be one of a few dozen officers standing in between former President Donald Trump’s authoritarian dreams and American democracy. The attack on the Capitol, perpetuated by a mob commanded by Trump, was and still is an existential threat to both my city and the country at large.

The world looked on in horror as thousands of Trump’s most loyal followers overran police barricades, stripped law enforcement officers of our equipment and savagely beat us. They looked us in the eyes and called us — the ones protecting the Capitol — traitors.

The violent mob eventually gained access to the Capitol and roamed its storied halls with weapons and zip ties, evidently looking for members of Congress to kidnap, torture or kill, while our elected representatives and their staffs fled or sheltered in place, barricading their office doors, praying for safety from the fires of insurgency that some of them helped (and continue to help) spread.

*snip*