Later. Most of all, he didnt expect to be on the front lines and he didnt he didnt even expect to don a badge. He actually thought of Something Like football and more of that like he didnt to be on the front lines battling his fellow, spurred on as the congressional bipartisan and january six committee, he testified before found were inspired by former donald trump to stage a insurrection to the us capitol in a failed attempt to overturn a free and fair us president ial election. But what harry will harry dunn did in becoming a Police Officer protecting congress, which is where we first crossed past during my time covering. Officer defended the capitol on january six 2021 along with his colleagues some of whom died but but president ial citizens and the congressional gold medal later ended up paying a heavy price that hes still coping with. But he decided to turn his traumatic experience into a platform to speak out about Mental Health and democracy and write a book book called standing my ground. A capitol Police Officers fight for accountability and good trouble. After january six. So lets welcome harry dunn to the National Press. Thank you. So, harry, i just wanted to let know were going to have a bit of a conversation and then im going to turn turn it over to the folks here. Thats fine. First of all, once talk about since this is a press club, we have to talk about how the book came together. What inspired to write it . What was the writing process like . The editing process talked a bit, talked to us about how the book was actually inspired and constructed. Well, thanks for having me. Make sure i give you the answers right. My literary agent is here and my publicist like i make sure i give the right answers. No, im like i said, i didnt expect to be in this space right now where we are. I was afraid, tweeting a lot. And i was, you know, putting a lot of thoughts. And i realized i was garnering small following really small started that way. And i realized that also it was me feel better putting these tweets and these thoughts i have this on my phone a folder of audio recordings of just me venting and id just be recording in my phone, literally at work sometimes i look some of the recordings are like 17 minutes and then its profane, least. Started talking to some influence or people, people that i admire or people i respect and. I was named john bank, nbc correspondent, richard, i did an interview with him and we talked camera about 15 minutes or so and he said, harry, you need to write a book. And thats the first time i heard it. You know. Then i started actually giving it traction and, you know, reached to a couple of people and they connected me with my team and. Here we are. Thats how it. All came together. It was cathartic for me. Write the book. I had a coauthor i wrote it with and we bumped heads a lot because i didnt like some the things that were in there. Like i wouldnt say this and. Im a Big Personality and i need to make sure that always comes to the forefront and you know i dont want to say people expect me to say with this is you know my my words a memoir my life and experiences. So the toughest part about writing the book was how to end it, because the world is still on fire. And i was to use my book as like a fire extinguisher, a but jesus christ, like how . And by the way. If anybody saw me on the view, thats how thats what i got censored on the view several times i said, jesus, thats you said, thats what i said. My parents were in the audience. I wasnt going, i was looking, i thats my word. Vanity. No, i said, jesus christ, but no, i tried to use this book as a fire extinguisher, its like a sobering reality of this life. I dont want it to. Paint the picture of, you know, all you know, roses as we are in a dire state right now in this in this country. So that was one of the toughest parts were how to end. But the actual process was, you know, it was eye opening. And you have to surround yourself with good people that actually know what theyre doing. Because i have no idea what im doing. So are you sure about that . Yeah. Yeah. Far as like the actual, you know, the, you know, the technicalities and stuff but theres one you just touched on something that that struck me at the end of the book and well get to the other parts of the book later. Is that this story keeps going. And i want to sort of kind of sort of rapid fire get some of your reactions that where the book left off now were starting to see the Legal Proceedings kick in. Yeah with much larger players because you were talking about the smaller players in the book now the president s former chief of staff several of his former attorneys, i mean, its starting to move. And the president himself has been on the stand just yet. You know just yesterday in chats. What do you make of whether its sink the extinguisher, as you call it, of how the system is or not working or, you know, the things that you expressed in very passionate terms throughout the. What do you make of whats happening now with the former president and chief of staff, former lawyers. All of it. Well, the system is working. It is delayed pace. I guess it would be january six this year. But three years since. But just to touch on another look how long donald trump has been doing these things that hes being charged with and is finally paying off. So i do believe that its working. You know, with the criticism it at a snails pace. Thats its important and the theyre the narrative now that they are trying to discredit it. As you know, when facts arent on their side. They attack the system then because they cant have facts on their side. So they attack the institutions. Know the fbi is under attack. The department of justice is weaponized and all stuff. And its the institutions work. If we have these these safeguards the safeguards our american people. You know it frustrates me, though, that these institutions that have trusted tried to for centuries. Now they attacked them as being in not credible and their followers are buying in to it. Bennie thompson told me one day that the best disinfectant is truth. So we need more people to do speaking truth to power. And like i said, thats why, you know, one of the reasons i hope my book is that a lot of people, me about the congresspeople and, politicians or mayors who repeat these lies. You know, if they read my book, great. But the book isnt for them. The book is for the american people. And open some eyes and inspire to continue to speaking truth to power. Speaking the book, theres some talk in terms of the structure it seemed to be part catharsis. There was a definite Mental Health track to this piece, part democracy primer, part history primer. Was that intentional . So im this big hodgepodge of all that stuff that you just named. Yes. It was intentional especially the Mental Health aspect of it. You know, you show me somebody who says they got it together all the time, then ill show you the biggest liar, the face of this earth, because we all struggling with something. We all are. But i wanted people know where i got this forceful pride from. And that goes back to, i guess, the way i was raised that all that to my parents, to the. My upbringing i had some experiences that maybe some people cant relate to. Maybe they cant. But like what . Well, i talk specific incidents. I played sports and then i was on medicine as, a child for adhd and it made me feel weird being medicated as a kid. I felt like was wrong with me and maybe that helped shape me to be the person i am that i didnt need to be controlled medicine. Not saying theres anything wrong with it because. You know, people we need some kind of assistance. We need help. But these experiences i live in, like being cut from a football team, you know, growing up, the community that i grew up in with you, my childhood friends, having forced sisters and being the only boy maybe that molded some of the compassion that i have that, you know men are afraid to display or dont display for reasons. But i include all of that because all of these experiences that live like helped create the person that you see standing, sitting here in front of you now, which is weird because it is understanding my ground and im literally sitting on sitting, but its a great picture that as strike but well talk about your upbringing in Mental Health. Did you want to start a national about mental and and specifically theres been a lot of discussions about how Mental Health is not openly in passionately and warmly discussed in the Africanamerican Community among africanamerican men. I mean, who wants to admit that there effed up . You know, so guess thats one of the reasons why the conversation doesnt happen. Yes. I want to have a National Discussion about it, but theres nothing new that be said to encompass the importance of its nothing new. Theres no new phrases or, you know, no new hashtags. We just need more people saying it. More people need to. I guess the, you know, the phrase gets thrown around all the time, normalize this, normalize that. But, you know, more people just its literally a part of our everyday life is a part of our everyday life. So more people just need to be open and you something. But i understand why people are this world is really cruel. You know, people love to kick you while youre down or, you know, a picture of somebody struggling instead of helping that person thinks that thats the world we live in. So its easy to go with the norms that have been happening, and its hard to do the opposite. Go against it. I just dont care. Anybody else thinks thats why i maybe to do the this vulnerability, whatever and its big and vulnerability. You were pretty raw in book in terms of opening up to all the rage, all the things that were coming that you were experiencing just as a result of january six, your childhood all of it. What kind of feedback have you been getting from, not just your friends, but total strangers. And one is anyway said, hey, youve helped me. Youve helped me seek help or anything of that nature. Well, i share a funny story feedback from my father. He read the piece why you cut so. And yes the book, my didnt raise me like that. Correct. But also didnt raise me to deal with an insurrection and Everything Else that followed behind. Yeah. That wasnt in parents. Yeah. That wasnt in a. But you know, i had to share. I really feel and i, you know, pull the curtain back all the. And thats the way i feel. You know im not going to say i say jiminy cricket cricket. Thats not who thats not thats not who i am. You know, im able to articulate my people to say, well, you a lot. You have a limited vocabulary, not a pretty good vocabulary, but sometimes those words just bring home. But no, but yes, ive gotten feedback and i actually got a message from a coworker tuesday night that they saw my message on my interview on the view and this person is no longer with the force because of january, not physically just mostly cant do the job anymore and said that they they struggle getting out of bed every morning and. Seeing me still fight even if by myself just to tell the truth inspire people or it makes it easier for them to get out of. And i respond to them because thats what its all about, you know, i, i was telling meredith the way in here that is your publicist meredith, i got a text from a coworker that at right now and people just want to say that the shooting that happened last night in maine and he just wanted to talk to me about it and how i become this person that you just want to talk about. Before all this, it was just and, you know, new music. But now, you know, just getting that message from people that want to open up about any and everything. And thats its because it lets one lsp know that im not the one that are having these feelings and i guess thats what makes them okay because theyre having these feelings and they like theyre not the only one either. So hmm. Theres part of this. You just raised about reaction in talk about a coworker. What kind of have you received in Law Enforcement community to talk about that and . Because you you talked in a previous conversation as we were prepping that you were speaking before National Organization for black Law Enforcement officers and forth. What is it been mixed, good, bad talk about it is as divide it as this country is it is as divided as this country is on six. There was actually a Police Officer active Police Officer from chicago who got charged and the fop lawyers represented him in court after january six. And obviously, we you know, we kept the Capitol Police had an individual charged with i know exact charges, but he was telling an individual that he agreed with what happened. And, you know you need to delete this off your social media. So yeah, its been but i get messages all the time from coworkers you know, keep it up bro. I dont know how. You do it. Keep going. So its definitely mixed. Has anyone ever you a traitor or betrayal or anything . No. They say im cloud seeking clout. You know, they youre seeking clout and youre doing this because of all the media appearances, every single time that ive gotten awards on tv, all of those acknowledged to my coworkers. So for anybody to say that, thats 100 disingenuous. Its wrong because all i do is uplift my coworkers. I dont speak negative about them and i, you know, try to share the spotlight, give them the opportunities that ive been blessed with. But its definitely been mixed, as divided as this country. But has that changed the relationship, say, specifically within the africanamerican, which has a very complicated relationship with the police historically historically . Yeah, i, i did a podcast. Michael, harriet, michael. Harry is unapologetically black and black. Everything, you know. Yeah, yeah. He but he said it from the jump one he would never expect to have a Police Officer on, his podcast and but thats the kind of thats thing we need to have those discussions because living in this divided world you know im not trying to be the unifier. Right. But those kind of discussions need to happen. And they also need to be received with understanding, empathy and compassion, because people talk to each other all they want and they walk away. I hate him. I hate him. And what we talk. Oh, but people need to seek actual understanding for a difference to be made. Another part of the book, you try to lay out a bunch of history nuggets out there. Yeah. What were you trying to do in in sort of planting those historic cold seeds . In short, to say the saying nothing new. This stuffs been happening for years. I mean, at a coming back from the view last night i was talking the driver and thank you for appearing my employers of course of course but we were talking about you know, life, liberty, pursuit of and, you know, life and property is what he started with that and that saying had around for a while black people when they say all men are created they were talking about people and all men are created equal. But at that time, black people were considered property, so all men are created equal. Then apply black people at that time, whether know you could splice it up how you would. Thats the actual fact of it. Or women, correct . Yeah. And i talk about that in the book, but this aint nothing new. These are in felt this entitlement. Donald trump still doesnt think he did anything wrong. The people who attacked the cab think they did they didnt do anything wrong. Its their sense of entitlement thats existed because of our history that theyve been in boat and by their history our history. Its not our its all of our history and its still rears its ugly head today. It still exists today. But thats the thats the point of bringing up those historical events that this aint nothing new but but that historical event, those historical events collectively also dip into deeply. And you talk a little bit about the michael harriot discussion into, the issue of race on a number of interviews, you have stated squarely that the january six insurrection was not a act. Im to challenge you on. Okay, why . I dont think that they got together and said, well, let me back up my white coworkers got their up to that. So thats why i dont think it was a racist fueled event. They were racist. There are a lot of them, but i dont think the premise of that, the premise of that day was entitlement and they wanted disenfranchize and say, yo, no yall. When we did yall is lying. Thats what that day was about. Now, a lot of racists believe that, but i dont believe that it was you know, and also time you bring up why are you using the race card and this is just is what it is its a part of our history part of not even its a part of our current thats going on now. So so in the democracy leg of this. Youve written this book now, youve done a bunch of speeches, had a lot of interviews. What do you make of our american democracy. Youre at the press club. You can tell it. And you said the club. Yeah, right. Weve weve been asking people to be honest with for more than 160 years, is is is on life support. I guess right now its keeper a d next the nearby is it really that precarious . I think so, man. I think so i dont see anything that gives me real hope that its not that is that its not, you know, individuals are so so. So what . I dont know. Im trying to find right word is this sucks, you know you know in a were in a bad place now and people lost hope and people just dont really care anymore. A lot of people. I mean, just look whats going on in the house of representatives right now is, you know, just elected to speaker and look how long who without one in instead of working together to fight but you put your life on the line every day when you wear that uniform and particular rally on the 6th of january 20, 21 and the insurrection ultimately, we failed. So dont you have it . Individuals, its not these institutions thats going to hold up as individ fuels that occupy these institutes since like, who would have thought you have to give a president United States an ethics briefing. I, i mean, the individuals are people and do you know that the speaker of the house can be any joe the street. Yeah. It does not have to be it you know you dont have to be a member of congress to be the speaker of the house if, if you will. I wanted to run for speaker if got 200 that you win the speakership. Its insane. So what did you what did you actually what do you think of the the the thought that was out there that that House Republicans might have the idea of bringing in