The House voted to form the select committee to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed eight members -- six Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who broke from the GOP to vote in favor of creating the panel.
All over Capitol Hill, reporters have noticed that Capitol Police officers are intently watching the hearing -- as the four officers who are testifying Tuesday speak for many.
Groups of police are huddled around televisions that are stationed next to security checkpoints. Some officers have been spotted watching the hearing on their phones.
U.S. Capitol police officers watch their fellow offiers testify at the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, July 27, 2021, during down time while on duty, in Washington, D.C.
ABC News
Officers were seen in the Cannon Office Building standing and watching a TV screen, with the volume on high, completely engrossed as their colleagues speak their truth of what happened that day.
-ABC News' Mariam Khan
Jul 27, 2021, 12:42 PM EDT
Officers describe hammers, tasers, other weapons used against them
Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges detailed the weapons used against officers that day.
"There were over 9,000 of the terrorists out there with an unknown number of firearms and a couple hundred of us, maybe. So, we could not -- if that turned into a firefight, we would have lost," he said. "And this was a fight we couldn't afford to lose."
The officers said the weapons used against them included police shields, police batons, hammers, a sledgehammer, flag poles, tasers, pepper spray, bear and wasp spray, copper pipes, rocks, table legs broken down, guardrails and cones.
From left, officers Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone, Daniel Hodges and Harry Dunn testify before the Select Committee investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, during their first hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2021.
Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AFP/Getty Images
"Any weapons, any items they can get their hands on," he said.
Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges testifies during the opening hearing of the U.S. House (Select) Committee investigating the Jan, 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, July 27, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Jim Bourg/Pool via Reuters
Jul 27, 2021, 12:22 PM EDT
Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff tears up as he asks officer: 'Is this America?'
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told the witnesses that he may not have been alive today if not for their sacrifices on Jan. 6 and teared up after an emotional exchange with Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn.
He said he was haunted by Dunn asking, "Is this America?" on Jan. 6 and posed the question to Dunn himself: "Is this America, what you saw?"
"Frankly, I guess it is America. It shouldn't be. But I guess that's the way that things are," Dunn said. "It's not the side of America that I like or the side that any of us here represent. We represent the good side of America, the people that actually believe in decency and human decency and we appeal to just the good in people."
He then added he found it "encouraging" that Republican members were sitting on the panel to make it bipartisan.
"That's the side of America that I say yes, this is America. This is the side I like and acknowledge," he said.
Schiff, his voice shaking, thanked the officer who endured racial attacks on Jan. 6 and said, 'I believe in this country, and I believe in it because of people like you."
Jul 27, 2021, 11:59 AM EDT
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger chokes up during questioning
An emotional Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, opened his questioning by acknowledging the heaviness in the hearing room but offering praise for the witnesses.
"I think it's important to tell you, right now, though you guys may individually feel a little broken -- you guys all talked about the effects you have to deal with and you talked about the impact of that day -- but you guys won. You guys held," Kinzinger said. "Democracies are not defined by our bad days. They're defined by how we come back from bad days, how we take accountability for that."
"Serving on this committee, I'm here to investigate Jan. 6, not in spite of my membership in the Republican Party, but because of it, not to win a political fight, but to learn the facts and defend our democracy," he continued.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger listens during the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 27, 2021.
Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters
In an apparent nod to the loyalty some lawmakers have to the former president, Kinzinger said, "On January 6, the temptation to compromise their oath didn't come in the form of a campaign check or leadership or an all caps tweet, it came in the form of a violent mob."
Kinzinger asked all four officers if they agree with some out there who say it’s time to move on. All of them said no.
"There can be no moving on without accountability. There can be no healing until we make sure this can't happen again," said Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges.
