'People died': Officer who defended Capitol reacts to GOP lawmaker's 'disgusting' comments

Former Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who was famously crushed in a doorway while defending the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, responded with disgust this week to a Republican congressman's claim that the deadly riot was "staged."

Hodges appeared on MS NOW to discuss the Trump-created $1.8 billion slush fund that could compensate January 6 defendants. Asked about a Republican congressman's recent on-camera dismissal of the entire riot as a manufactured event, Hodges did not hold back.

"Yeah, that is disgusting," Hodges said. "People died, you know, police officers died. They died in the aftermath, died from suicide, rioters, insurrectionists died."

The congressman's comments, played for Hodges during the interview, included the claim that "January 6th is an issue that was made up in the first place" and that "it was a self-made riot. By members who hate Trump." When the reporter pointed out that Republican members of Congress ran for their lives during the attack, the congressman responded only with vague references to police officers "letting people in the building."

Hodges rejected that framing.

"The fear that congressmen, congresswomen and their staff were feeling were real," he said. "The fear that officers were feeling were real. None of that was staged. I don't know why he would say that."

He added that he is not aware of any legitimate evidence supporting the "staged" claim.

"I've heard plenty of conspiracy theories about how people believe it was staged, but nothing that has ever, as any legitimate meaning," Hodges said.

Hodges also weighed in on the politics of the moment. He said the Trump-backed payment fund for January 6 defendants strikes him as a transactional move designed to encourage future political violence.

"Trump has been talking for years now about trying to give these people money because, I mean, he wants them on retainer for the next time," Hodges said. "He wants to influence the course of history with mass violence."

He said he is not interested in any payment for himself.

"I got paid for my work that day. All my colleagues got paid for that work that day," he said. "I'm more worried about any future violence that these kind of payouts might encourage from people who've already demonstrated that they are willing to commit political violence in the name of Donald Trump."

He closed by describing what the entire episode has felt like to live through.

"It's outrageous and it's disgusting and it's never ending," Hodges said.