(The Hill) — Two police officers who fended off rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to compel the installation of a plaque honoring law enforcement who defended the building and those inside that day.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges said that a 2022 law, signed by former President Joe Biden, directed the Architect of the Capitol to install a memorial honoring officers who fought back that day.
But the deadline to do so has long passed, and there’s no sign of the plaque.
“After the law was passed, the politics around January 6, 2021, changed, and many politicians who once spoke plainly about the dangers of that day began to rewrite its history, and minimize the terror of the attack,” the complaint reads. “Four years since Congress passed the law, and three years since the deadline for its installation has lapsed, the memorial has not been put up.”
Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin said at a hearing in April that the plaque has been made, but modifications to the House side of the building must be directed by the Speaker. Austin said he had not yet received those instructions from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
The officers are seeking a court order directing the installation of the plaque and deeming the failure to install it unlawful.
They said in the complaint that the practical effect of Jan. 6 has been “very real” for them.
Both men have been accused of being “crisis actors” and “left-wing conspiracy agents” while also regularly receiving death threats for seeking to hold the rioters accountable for their actions.
Dunn, who is Black, faces racial epithets and has fortified security at his home, according to the lawsuit. He now finds it “impossible” to work to protect the lawmakers “whose lives he helped save but who, in part, now refuse to recognize his service.”
Hodges has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
“By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history,” they said. “It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them.”
Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in protest of the certification of Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election. More than 1,500 people were prosecuted in a sweeping Justice Department probe, resulting in serious convictions from assaulting law enforcement to seditious conspiracy.
On his first day back in the White House, President Trump pardoned nearly all the rioters and commuted to time served the sentences of the others.
When asked in March why the plaque had not been put up, Johnson replied: “I honestly don’t know. Not on my radar right now.”
The Hill requested comment from Johnson’s office and the Architect of the Capitol.
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