I Was There on January 6. The Pardons Tell Me It Could Happen Again.

I was one of the Capitol Police officers who stood the line on January 6, 2021. I remember the sound before anything else — the shouting, the metal banging, the screams that weren’t chants anymore but threats. I remember the looks in people’s eyes as they pushed toward us. Rage. Certainty. Permission.

Five years later, I’m still carrying that day with m…