A Capitol Cop and a Jan. 6th Convict Walk Into a Polling Station

Plus: How Trump is relying on surrogates to get around the gag order.

(Composite / Photos: GettyImages)

It’s primary day in a handful of states, and two contests for the U.S. House of Representatives nominations stand out for how they illustrate the strangeness of our political moment. In Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is expected to win the Democratic nomination in an open contest, while in West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, Derrick Evans, a former state delegate, is challenging incumbent Carol Miller in the Republican primary.

During the January 6th attack, Dunn guarded the office of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has since endorsed him. Dunn had to fend off punches and attacks from violent rioters, Oath Keepers, and others ransacking the Capitol. In the months that followed, Dunn, in addition to testifying in criminal trials, also testified before the House January 6th Committee, dispelling many of the lies told by the Oath Keepers and other revisionists and detailing the violence by the rioters:

I witnessed the rioters using all kinds of weapons against the officers, including flag poles, metal bike racks they had torn apart, and various kinds of projectiles. Officers were being bloodied in the fighting, many were screaming, and many were blinded and coughing from chemical irritants being sprayed in their faces. I gave decontamination aid to as many officers as I could, flushing their eyes with water to dilute the chemical irritants.

Dunn stepped down from the U.S. Capitol Police late last year, just a few years short of pension eligibility, and he has been running since then for the deep-blue seat soon to be vacated by the retiring John Sarbanes. Alongside Maryland State Sen. Sarah Elfreth, Dunn has quickly emerged as one of the top candidates in a crowded primary field, earning endorsements from heavy hitters like Pelosi, Rep. James Clyburn, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

While regular Bulwark readers might be familiar with Dunn and his role in the events of January 6th, they might be less familiar with Evans, who also played a role that day. The Republican candidate is not running in an open primary like Dunn. He is instead challenging a “Main Street” Republican, Carol Miller,¹ a candidate he described—in a statement that could pass for a kind of GOP lorem ipsum text—as aligned with “Bill Gates, abortion, killing coal, and funding transgender surgeries.” 

Evans prides himself on his actions at and in the Capitol on January 6th, actions for which he was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge of civil disorder. If you open his campaign website, the first thing you’ll see is a popup containing a  picture of him breaching the Capitol with the inscription, “J6 Prisoner running for Congress.” Lower on his homepage, you’ll also see a photo of Evans with Donald Trump, who hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the race. 

Evans’s endorsements include House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) and QAnon-believing, disgraced former Army Gen. Michael Flynn. Good also cut a $2,000 check to Evans’s campaign in March.

While Miller has outraised Evans by quite a bit—she had almost double Evans’s cash on hand in the most recent filings—she has not criticized him in any way. Miller’s campaign told Axios that she “doesn't talk about her opponents and doesn't attack other Republicans, not now and not ever.” Sure enough, she apparently won’t talk about them even when they’re convicted felons trying to besmirch her character and end her career. 

These primary races perfectly encapsulate the response of the two parties to January 6th and its historical afterimage. If Evans wins the primary today, which would virtually guarantee a victory in November, he would be the first person convicted of a crime in relation to the January 6th attack to serve in Congress.² And on the other side, if Dunn completes his ascent to Congress, he could be wearing a suit instead of an officer’s uniform during the next Capitol breach. 

Bend the knee

Without something to liven things up, like Mr. Brady dropping a briefcase, a courtroom can be a boring place. Outside the courtroom is another matter. Unable to intimidate witnesses or mouth off, Trump has been falling asleep during his court appearances. But now he has adopted a new strategy that draws greater attention to his side of the case and neatly sidesteps the whole gag-order thing: bringing along sycophantic elected officials to complain and attack the court on his behalf.

The first politician to the party was Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who missed votes just to appear with Trump. On Monday, Trump brought a bigger entourage, which included Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, whose presence—as the top law enforcement official in one state traveling to another to support an accused felon out of political allegiance—was especially odd.

Vance and the others denounced the trial and attacked the day’s witness, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Trump then happily read some of those statements to the cameras outside the courtroom at the end of the day.

Several others made the pilgrimage Tuesday morning, including Florida Reps. Cory Mills and Byron Donalds along with former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Doug Burgum.

And on Tuesday, in the most high-profile tribute yet, House Speaker Mike Johnson joined Trump, railed against the charges against him, and vowed congressional oversight:

Election Day cannot get here soon enough and we will continue to shine a light on all of this in Congress because we have that constitutional responsibility. I came here again today on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this.

It would be gobsmacking if it weren’t just our new normal: The speaker of the House of Representatives, whose bacon was just saved by the support of members of the other party, stands before cameras to throw his support behind a political ally on trial and to misrepresent the legal proceedings against him.

As you might have gathered in the first section of this newsletter, the GOP embraces quite a few inconsistencies on law enforcement. Among the candidates to be Trump’s running mate, the absolute defense of an accused felon is quickly becoming a litmus test.

Bad boys

In the March 26 edition of Press Pass, I reported on some lesser known components to the Republican Study Committee’s annual budget proposal, which this year included a plan to defund local police departments benefitting from the federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.

Several of the lawmakers in the RSC, which is the largest ideological caucus in the House, represent districts that receive quite a bit of money from the COPS program. Several Republicans in the House leadership who are also RSC members have benefited from COPS, including Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Rich Hudson (R-N.C.). Other RSC members have touted money for the program as major wins for their district, such as Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.).

The RSC budget has been a political liability for many Republicans. A wish list of Republican spending (and cutting) priorities that get watered down for any actual legislation, it’s often rife with politically toxic line items that many Republicans in frontline districts (who are often RSC members) would rather not talk about. Perhaps the COPS funding will be a topic of discussion this police week.

1. Miller is a member of the Republican Main Street Caucus, which is one of the House GOP’s five families. With a few exceptions, these labels are more about a lawmaker’s temperament than actual policy positions. Miller is by no means a moderate in any sense of the word. She just avoids the type of insurgent behavior that Evans has made his brand.

2. There are several people who could be described as “January 6th participants” serving in Congress, including some individuals who were first elected after the attack. However, none of them was among the violent rioters who breached the Capitol building. Evans went inside.