When the US Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021, I watched in horror as my friend Capitol Police Lt. Ted Hopkins and his fellow officers — many whom I have met and knew personally — were pictured fighting off a wild mob of Americans hellbent on death and destruction.
It was frightening to watch and even worse when I saw what appeared to be Hopkins personally struggling to defend himself from multiple attackers on my own television.
This week, history tried to make right from wrong. The United States Capitol Police and Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department were bestowed Congress’s highest honor — the Congressional Gold Medal — for defending the US Capitol that day.
On January 6, officers defended politicians of all parties. But when it came to honoring our men and women in uniform, 21 House Republicans voted against doing so. Some of these lawmakers were ones who downplayed the violence and pledged allegiance to Trump. Thankfully, cooler minds prevailed and the Senate passed the legislation by voice vote, with no Republican objections.
In an interview with Hopkins this week, I asked him how that felt. How did it feel that the very members of Congress who he defended were snubbing him and his team?
“I would say I don’t know what you are voting against — but don’t worry, we still have your back,” he replied, diplomatically.
Others in the Capitol Police who I spoke to for this story were more outspoken. They were outraged about what a political football the Capitol City Police turned into with this attack. Those who expressed outrage, however, preferred not to be named in this piece, for fear that their jobs could be left in jeopardy.
One officer told me, “We are still talking about Trump running again — it’s unreal.”
It’s clear Capitol Police officers know who is responsible for inciting the violence against them.
Hopkins, who helped lead the Capitol Police response to January 6 rioters, detailed his experience to me in a phone interview on Tuesday: “The day was extremely unbelievable. Intellectually you know that the day will come that you will have to fight off an attack on the US Capitol, but everyone envisions it as foreign extremists and not your fellow Americans.
“I had someone try to hit me with a pole with an American flag on it and tell me they are on my side. How surreal is that?
“It was chaotic, intense and I was pissed off the whole time — which is actually a very useful emotion in that type of situation, when you are being attacked.
“Officers were confronted with a situation they were unprepared for: Americans attacking them. They were put in a situation where the level of violence and the sheer numbers of the mob against them was enormous.”
Hopkins described rioters who seemed not to understand the magnitude of their actions, including people with open cans of beer in their hands as they stormed the Capitol. He has a stern warning for those who were there that day, or who sympathize with the insurrectionists: “If you still think January 6 was okay to do, I don’t think you are salvageable.” And “if someone wants to try something like that again,” he added, the Capitol Police are more prepared than ever.
Historically, Republicans are known to be pro-police: “Blue Lives Matter” was the cry of many right-leaning politicians and voters throughout 2020 and 2021. Yet after January 6, the Capitol Police appeared to be cut off from this support. Clearly for some, the pro-Trump narrative was more important than our own men and women in blue who risked their lives to ensure the survival of democracy. Such a change in sympathies has not gone unnoticed by the officers in D.C.
However, Hopkins said that other law enforcers have rallied round the Capitol Police: “There are a lot of bad things that happened that day but also a lot of good that we need to shine the light on and be proud of. The Architects of the Capitol — the custodian group — came in as soon as we got the protesters out and they cleaned it up right away. There were lots of unsung heroes that day that stepped up and did their job.
“We put out a call for help and everyone stepped up. It was a team effort and our law enforcement partners such as ATF, MPD, FBI and lots of local jurisdictions showed up. Everyone who had someone they could send, sent them. I would look up and see a uniform I have never seen before.
“We have a brotherhood and sisterhood in law enforcement and it was visibly demonstrated that day. At the time, we were happy to see them and now, looking back, it was a powerful display of unity.”
After a glut of horrifying footage was shown of the day during the January 6 committee investigations, Hopkins is now keen for Capitol Police to be seen as heroes rather than victims: “As bad of a day as it was — and it was a bad day — I got to do what signed up for. You don’t sign up to be a police officer for the good days. Me and my brothers and sisters on the force have a deep sense of pride that we got to do our jobs and do it well that day.
“It was a tough day. Officers were injured and killed. Lots of my friends got hurt. I chose to look at the day from a different perspective because I don’t see the police as victims, but rather as heroes who got hurt and then they got up and kept moving forward...
“In the context of what a terrible day it was historically, it was also a disaster personally for everyone as we lost Officer Brian Sicknick. He was one of the best of us and losing him hits home the most.” Officer Sicknick suffered multiple strokes the day after fighting off rioters for hours during the Capitol insurrection and died of natural causes later that day.
This week, as medals were given out by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, Sicknick’s family refused to shake hands with McConnell or McCarthy. The moment was caught on video and prompted widespread discussion. Brian Sicknick’s mother, Gladys, told CNN’s This Morning: ““We were talking about saying something and then we said, ‘No, I think the best way is to just ignore them.’ And we had no idea it was going to blow up like this. We just – we really didn’t. And I’m glad it did because I think it made them think about what they do.”
Brian Sicknick’s brother Craig said in the same interview: “I really do not hold respect for people who have no integrity.”
He added that in his opinion, lawmakers like McConnell and McCarthy who stay silent on the harm Trump did “keep perpetrating the same policies and lies that caused the insurrection to happen.”
