- [Donald Trump] We fight like hell.

And if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country anymore - Trying to take out Trump.

- Right?

- Right.

(laughs) - And they think they're gonna win again.

- [Crowd] Trump.

We want Trump.

We want Trump.

(energetic drum roll) - Madam Speaker, the Vice President, and the United States Senate.

(audience applauds) - [Donald Trump] Mike Pence is gonna have to come through for us, and if he doesn't- - Woo!

- That will be a sad day for our country.

(intense music) - Have to storm the (censored) Capitol, we're going break the doors down.

They're already at the doorstep.

(gavel taps) (brooding music) - Madam Speaker, members of Congress.

(energetic drum roll) - They want you to think we're weak.

They want you to think no one feels the way you do.

- I submit to you that we are much stronger than them.

We are much stronger than they are.

We are many.

(intense music) - It's not about the good people of Arizona.

- [Donald Trump] And it will stand in recess until the call of the Chair.

(gavel taps) (indistinct background chatter) (crowd indistinct shouting) (glass smashing) (crowd rioting) (crowd screaming) (gentle music) (crowd rioting) - Waking up today, it's like any other day, but it's not a thing about what happened.

And on January 6th, the insurrection, the violence.

But you also think about everything that's happened since then.

All the evidence they have uncovered, all the trials, and hopefully, the trials that are gonna come up for the people who are in charge.

(intense music) - It is a very emotional day for me.

I've waited for two years for this moment.

There are people that are denying the horrors of January 6th, 2021, and we can never let this happen again.

- The morning of the insurrection, Howie was in his normal, happy, cheerful mood.

As he left for work, I told him, you know, not to run towards danger, but to come back home to his wife.

We both laughed because we knew that Howie was the kind of person who took his job seriously and gave 100%, but we had no idea what was to come.

(somber music) - I joined the military to serve and go overseas in Iraq.

But January 6th was another beast.

It was a tragedy that would've had caused the American democracy.

- Oh!

Oh!

(gavel taps) (typing machine clacking) - The Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol will be in order.

200 years ago, in 1801, the House of Representatives did one of its jobs laid out in the Constitution.

After a deadlock in the Electoral College, this body cast 36 ballots and, ultimately, settled the contest for president of the United States.

What followed was the first peaceful transfer of power in our country's history.

And while Joe Biden is the legitimately elected President of the United States, a peaceful transfer of power didn't happen this year.

Let that sink in.

Think about it.

(intense music) - You know, there was so much going on that day.

You know, it's funny, like where do you start?

- And we won it by a landslide.

This was not a close election.

You know I say sometimes jokingly, but there's no joke about it.

I've been into elections- - Over my career, been part of over a thousand First Amendment Protest.

But going into that day, I expected a protest.

I expected a long day.

I expected civil disobedience, but I didn't expect an insurrection and individuals attempting to physically overthrow the Government with violence.

- Gathered together in the heart of our nation's capital for one very, very basic and simple reason to save our democracy.

(crowd cheering) - Didn't expect that at all.

(crowd cheering) - USA.

- USA.

- [All] USA.

USA.

- Our initial assignment was to go down to Constitution Avenue and just be highly visible.

Let people know that the police are there, we're watching, which that just involves us standing outside, keeping an eye on the crowd.

- That day, for me, started off pretty much like any other day, got up, and went to the gym, worked out.

It was probably about late morning when I was back at home that I got a phone call from my partner at the time, a guy named Jimmy Albright.

And Jimmy was telling me that he was hearing from guys that were working, that there was something happening over at the Ellipse- - That's a powerful idea- - Where the Stop the Steal rally was taking place.

- [Leader] Even our enemies wanna be free- - On the 6th.

I actually did not know what was happening at the Capitol.

- The Senate and House of Representatives are meeting in joint session.

- I was working that day.

I was working from home and I did not have access to TV.

- We'll stop this- - And not have access to my phone and you know, the ability to check internet and things like that.

So I did get a phone call from Brian, his mother.

She was very concerned about something going on at the Capitol.

- We are many- - Of course, I didn't know what she was seeing, so I texted him.

I did not call him, that's the one thing I regret today.

But I only texted him, but he got back to me.

And so once he got back to me, you know, I relaxed and I thought everything was fine.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - Trump's speech is over.

It was awesome.

Some of you may have seen it online.

It went over all the voter fraud.

We're walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don't know, maybe we'll break down the doors.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - After the speaking in the park ended, the crowd began to move in the opposite direction, the radio.

And we could hear that the commander who was in charge that day for the events was getting more and more agitated with protesters at the Capitol building until he eventually, called for a rap back up and said, you know, any rap response to, which would come back them up at the Capitol - [Officer] Priority, we (indistinct) Peace Circle.

Breach the line, we need backup.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - [Danny Hodges] Once we got that, we ran back to the vans that we took down to Constitution Avenue, started putting on all our hard gear and made our way to the Capitol.

- Jeff was assigned to a civil disturbance unit on January 6th and sent to the Capitol.

Jeff, he had not been to the Capitol since he was probably 10 years old, and as a Metropolitan Police Department officer, they weren't responsible for knowing the grounds of the Capitol.

(intense music) (radio transmission beeps) - I remember turning on my police radio and listening to reports of individuals who had participated in the Stop the Steal rally and had marched towards the Capitol and had broken through police lines and that they were calling for MPD officers to respond to the Capitol, to assist US Capitol Police.

- A lot of the rioters that day, told us that they were there to Stop the Steal.

- Are there any objections to counting the certificate of vote of the State of Arizona that the teller is verified, appears to be regular in form and authentic?

- Mr. Vice President, I, Paul Gosar from Arizona- - [Vice President] So what purpose does the gentleman from Arizona rise?

- I rise up for myself and 60 of my colleagues to object to the counting of the electoral ballots from Arizona.

- Is the objection in writing and signed by a senator?

- Yes, it is.

- Donald Trump, you could see even before the election was hedging, - The only way we're gonna lose this election is if the election is rigged, remember that.

- And so you started to see those seeds being laid.

- You still have more than 100 days to this election, but at this point, you're losing.

- First of all, I'm not losing because those are fake polls.

- There's this huge group of people who are huge Donald Trump fans, the "Proud Boys, Stand Back and Stand By," and Trump played with that and flirted with that.

And so there were a lot of folks who really believed that Trump spoke for them.

And so then when he didn't win and he started immediately spreading the big lie and telling the big lie all the way through, people were there to respond to that.

They fed on that.

- Madam Speaker, Americans instinctively know there was something wrong with this election.

During the campaign, vice President Biden would do an event and he'd get 50 people at the event.

President Trump at just one rally gets 50,000 people.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - Madam Speaker, I have constituents outside this building right now.

I promised my voters to be their voice in this branch of government, which I now serve.

It is my separate but equal obligation to weigh in on this election and object.

- What does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims?

- You know, there are some people that supported Donald Trump because of his, you know, patriotic rhetoric.

And I was one of those people at one point.

I was a single-issue voter in 2016, and my issue was law enforcement.

And I saw it as a no-brainer, voting for somebody who, you know, at least purported to support law enforcement versus candidates that were calling for defunding the police and also a political party that I think was inspiring violence against police officers.

Having the benefit of hindsight now, I mean, you see that, you know, the rhetoric that was used as part of that rally that day by Trump and some of his supporters, you know, clearly, stirred up this crowd that was already angry.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - We made our way to the Northwestern portion of the Capitol lawn.

We got out on foot and formed up into two columns and started making our way towards the West Terrace.

When we were marching towards the West Terrace, the crowd was very present, saw us, and they were more satisfied with just insulting us, calling us names, traitors, oath breakers, that kind of thing.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - [Participant] I (indistinct) your paycheck!

(censored) You guys.

- And eventually, they attacked us.

(officer indistinct shouts) - [Officer 1] We're gonna give riot warnings.

(indistinct) Hear loud and clear, we're gonna give riot warnings.

We're gonna try and get compliance, but this is now effectively a riot.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - 15:49 hours, declaring it a riot.

- [Officer 2] Five to 50 (indistinct) County Police, want advise, trying to breach and get to the Capitol.

- [Officer 4] 50, I copy.

(rioter indistinct shouting) - I had never been to the Capitol before.

That's not really part of MPDs normal patrol duties.

So we didn't really know exactly where we were.

I tried to carve a path through the crowd, the rest of my platoon to follow.

They cut off our platoon.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - It was completely surrounded by a huge crowd where I couldn't see the end of it.

You know, we formed the thin blue line, just a small line of officers against the tens of thousands.

And we held it for as long as we could, A breach of the Capitol, breach of the Capitol to the upper level.

- [Officer 2] Jack, be advised they're requesting additional resources on the Eastside as they have broken into that window and they're trying to kick it in.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - At that time, it seemed like it was 40 officers versus 15,000.

And I think in a way it was.

That seemed to be the pinnacle of the violence that day.

And that was the focal point for that crowd that was out on the West Terrace to try to gain entry into the Capitol.

(crowd indistinct shouting) I started in the back of that group of officers and for whatever reason, I felt compelled to make my way to the front.

- You got 10,000 people attacking a police officer in full uniform.

There's no mistaking about it that they know what they're doing.

They're breaching the Capitol.

They're telling me they're going to execute people inside the building.

And if they had to go through me and the other officers, they will.

(crowd indistinct shouting) (weapons rattling) - On January 6th, it took it to a whole nother level.

It was an assault, it was un-American, it was undemocratic, it was just violence.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - [Officer] We're trying to hold you up for back.

We're trying to hold you up for back now.

We need to hold the doors of the Capitol.

- I heard a distressed call come out over the radio for the Lower West Terrace tunnel.

When you get down to the bottom of the stairs, there's a short kind of breezeway that leads up to a set of double doors.

And I remember first looking through the double doors, which have glass paint.

And I could see through the glass this white haze, and it was like the residual gas that was just kind of floating in the air from the CS gas canisters that had been deployed.

I later learned that while most of them were deployed by law enforcement, that many of the rioters had come prepared.

And they actually brought with them these oven mitts when the CS gas caners would come out, they're hot as hell.

And so they would pick them up and then throw them back into the tunnel where they would, you know, have hell of an effect on a bunch of officers that were confined to a very small space.

(intense music) (crowd indistinct shouting) - Eventually, I made my way to the front of the tunnel there, and we were pushing, they were pushing, hitting us with police shields.

And I sort of braced myself against a metal doorframe in the tunnels to use as support because every time we pushed forward, otherwise, we were pushing off against our own people.

And I found myself trapped against the doorframe.

One of the terrorists had me pinned with a riot shield and the way I was pinned, my arms were just sort of like this and I couldn't, I had no functional use of them, no strength really.

And I was standing up straight so I couldn't get myself out of it.

I was completely vulnerable.

One of the terrorists took advantage of my vulnerability.

He had his phone out, but he put it in his mouth so that both of his hands were free to assault me.

He grabbed my gas mask, started slamming my head back and forth, and then started ripping off my gas mask because it's, you know, airtight against your face.

But he could, he was pulling it and, you know, straining against my neck.

And eventually, he was able to rip it off my head.

So he was able to grab my baton and rip it away from me.

And then he, you know, beat me in the head with it.

I could taste the blood coming outta my mouth and the lack of a gas mask and all the chemical munitions on my face.

I could feel my senses, you know, sort of diminishing a little bit.

And I knew that if I stayed in that position, if I took another blow like that, I could very easily suffer permanent damage or be killed or just, you know, lose consciousness, get dragged out into the mob and lynched, or at best to be a liability to my colleagues.

So I did the only thing I could do at that point and call for help.

Help!

Help!

(screams) - I was behind Hodges, he was getting trampled and I could hear him scream, literally, one or two officers behind him, and there's nothing I could have done.

- I started to yell out, "Who needs a break, who needs help?"

- Come on.

- He needs a break.

- Jimmy, get up to the- - I remember there were no volunteers, but there were officers that would identify their colleagues that were in need of assistance.

And people started handing officers back to get medical attention.

We had no EMTs, no fire rescue because they couldn't gain access into the building.

So it was like officers triaging other officers.

And then eventually, I made my way to the front and I found myself maybe 250, 300 feet away from the rest of the officers out in the crowd.

While I was being pulled out, you know, I was being struck by hands, what seemed like metal objects from pretty much every direction.

I remember hearing people yelling out, you know, "I got one," and I remember people grabbing at my gun and trying to grab my weapon and I just did everything that I could to maintain control of my gun.

People were yelling to kill him with his own gun.

And it was a very intense, very violent moments.

(brooding music) The next I remember is being struck with a Taser and it was multiple times just at the base of my skull.

And I really thought that I was gonna lose control of my gun at that point.

I mean, the purpose of a Taser is to incapacitate a person.

And I was very concerned that if I lost control of my gun, that it would be used against me.

And then, at some point, I remember yelling out that I have kids.

(crowd indistinct shouting) (tasers whirring) It definitely resonated with at least a few people that were in the crowd because while some were continuing to assault me, there were a few that stepped in, you know, we're almost fighting with those individuals to offer me protection.

The next thing I remember is waking up on my back inside the tunnel.

(weapons rattling) (crowd indistinct shouting) - [Officer] We need a medic!

- [Officer 2] We're calling 'em now.

- [Jimmy] Mike, stay in there, buddy.

Mike, it's Jimmy, I'm here.

- I was driven by my partner to the hospital and admitted, and that's where I learned that, you know, I had suffered a heart attack.

They told me my troponin levels had spiked and my blood pressure was obviously, like through the roof.

So I was admitted there, and later diagnosed not only with the heart attack, but with having a traumatic brain injury associated with the assault on me that day and PTSD.

So it was a hell of a day.

(Mike smirks) - [Officer 3] (indistinct) Call for backup.

- After we lost the police line, we went inside the tunnel.

I spent three hours defending the Capitol.

At one point, Michael Fanone released me and the only reason why I left that was to use the bathroom because I couldn't hold it no more.

There's no doubt in my mind that if I had stayed there, whatever happened to Michael Fanone, it would've happened to me.

The guilt comes in.

The triggers.

And I'm sure if I would've had stayed there, Michael Fanone would've had gotten beat up.

When we lost the police line, we felt defeated.

- With January 6th, the officers were brutalized on that day, struggling with not just the physical injuries and the lifelong result of that, but also the psychological injuries, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and just, you know, some of them had to take leave because they could not go back to work right away.

So, you know, it really has a long-lasting impact.

And then that's just on them.

Then when we look at the families, the families are left to pick up the pieces.

So if you have a significant other, partner, spouse, they're left there to clean up the mess that the perpetrators committed because then they have this whole new person that they're living with that has just virtually changed almost overnight because of what happened to them.

(ominous music) (traffic droning) - Officer Howard Liebengood, he was a US Capitol Police Officer, a 15-year veteran, and he basically, grew up in the Capitol Hill community.

He was Senate Page, he was a doorkeeper, and he joined US Capitol Police in 2005.

And on January the 6th, he was on duty.

And I think the events that occurred that day were so traumatizing to him.

It struck him to his core.

And then he worked around the clock on the 6th, the 7th, the 8th, and the 9th, with very few hours in between his shift.

And on the 9th, a few hours after his shift, he took his life.

(ominous music) I want people to know about Private First Class Liebengood, and what he did for the country.

I want them to realize that he was a generous, kind, compassionate person.

It didn't matter what your political beliefs were or what your rank or title was.

He respected and loved, you know, everyone.

And he brought this passion and devotion to his job.

And I think, ultimately, this devotion to his job, putting service before self, ultimately, led him to take his life.

(ominous music) - [Reporter] It's not a pretty day on January 6th when the brutality and the pain and the struggle on display during that day did not end on January 6th.

In fact, in quick succession in the days after, four police officers who fought that violent mob went on to take their own lives all in the wake of the attack.

- Jeff was assigned to a civil disturbance unit on January 6th and sent to the Capitol.

He went to work as the Jeff that I knew.

He was funny.

He was dancing through the house, playing with the dog, and he was just himself.

When he returned, he was very different.

At the time, I wasn't aware of everything that had happened, but I knew something wasn't right.

I just couldn't put my finger on it.

- [News Anchor] Raced to the Capitol- (crowd indistinct shouting) Body Camera footage obtained by CBS News reveals Jeff arrived on the front lines as Rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed while trying to breach a smashed window near the US House floor.

- Obviously, he had gone through a very traumatic event that day as every police officer who was there went through.

But he was up at night not sleeping, just emotional, just wasn't the jokester that left that morning.

He did go to the clinic after that day because of his injuries and they sent him home.

He was home for a few days and then they ordered him back to work.

He left for work on the 15th of January and never came home.

(ominous music) - It was a very difficult and lengthy process to identify what happened to Jeff that day.

We had to conduct a very extensive investigation in order to learn where inside the building or outside the building Jeff was.

There were tens of thousands of people there that day and the Washington DC Police were all wearing gas masks and helmets and visors and they were all dressed exactly the same.

So a lot of the technology that's been used to identify assailants was not available to us with regards to finding Jeff.

Ultimately, with the help of volunteers, we reviewed approximately 44,000 hours of YouTube video in order to locate Jeff in the riot, - Pushing through the door.

Hold this door and then isn't there a way to lock it?

Oh, my God.

- It broke the hinge when it came in.

- Yeah.

- The review of the YouTube video, ultimately, found where Jeff was in the Capitol that day.

And from that, we were then able to focus on other videos to see what happened to him.

And what became apparent very quickly, Jeff was actually attacked twice, and in the first attack, Jeff was disarmed and had his baton taken from him and he was struck at least twice and possibly three times in the face with his baton.

- [News Anchor] Then there's this now outside the Capitol, a metal pole sails in from the crack hitting Jeff head-on.

- The video that we were ultimately able to obtain, showed that he was knocked unconscious.

I read a recent statistic that said that in a typical year, over 700 law enforcement officers commit suicide, okay?

But what is not investigated is what was the basis for the suicide?

So in Jeff's case, we have scientific evidence that he did not die of a self-inflicted wound because he was weak or trying to escape his emotion or in any of the ways that many people try to stigmatize people who have mental illness or suicide.

But that in fact the post-concussive syndrome, the fact that he had his face broken, that it caused brain damage is what, ultimately, led to the depression and his death.

- Prior to my husband's death, police suicides were brushed under the rug.

They weren't talked about, they were ignored.

It was a stigma that the police departments didn't want to face.

Because of the events of January 6th and everything that led to his death, he has changed the conversation where now the Federal Government has recognized that police suicides are a line-of-duty death, and they deserve the same benefits as any other police officer no matter how they die, whether from COVID, a heart attack, or suicide.

(intense music) - Today is January 27th, 2023, and today is the sentencing date for George Tanios and Julian Khater, the two men responsible for assaulting my long-term partner, Brian Sicknick.

And I am in Washington DC at the Capitol right near the West Front where Brian was and where many other officers were and assaulted.

And it feels surreal standing here this morning before going to the courthouse to give my Victim Impact Statement.

(intense music) When I saw George Tanios and Julian Khater for the first time in person, it was a mix of emotions.

I felt sadness for them because they were put in that position, in a sense, because they were led by a former president who lied to them and riled them up to the point that they sacrifice their lives, really, their well-being for him, but also anger because they assaulted and planned to assault someone that I love very dearly and care about.

And they made his last moments on earth hell.

(brooding music) - The New Jersey men who assaulted a Capitol Police Officer on January 6th has been sentenced.

Julian Khater will spend about six and a half years behind bars.

- [News Anchor 2] This new video shows one of the men accused in the assault, Julian Khater, with his arms stretched out seeming to spray officers with what prosecutors have simply described as a chemical spray.

- Julian Khater was sentenced to, I believe, over six years in prison.

But two of those years were suspended due to time served.

George Tanios, he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and one year of supervised release.

And initially, I was more angry about George Tanios and his sentence because it felt like kind of like a slap on the wrist.

But I have my lawsuit pending, so that still gave me some comfort that, you know, I still have another avenue to seek justice.

(indistinct background chatter) - With being the representative of Officer Sicknick's estate.

And I think it's important to note that it's the estate that's suing.

It's not Sandra as the longtime partner suing 'cause some will say, "Well, she's trying to, you know, benefit from it."

She does represent the estate, but it is The Estate, it is the damage to Officer Sicknick.

And in fact, any funds we obtain from it, we've already publicly stated are going to be donated to a charity that Sandra believes Brian would have wanted or did support.

So this is not about money, it is only about accountability.

The ultimate objective is to hold those responsible, to hold Donald Trump accountable for his conduct that day and leading up to it, and to make sure that something like this never happens again.

And, ultimately, we did.

I brought in these two other firms to work with us because it's a collaborative effort.

- I think there are a lot of people working on January 6th, and January 6th issues.

Congress I think did a great job.

I know there may be a criminal prosecution based on that, but the civil process bringing this lawsuit, I think is an important part of developing that record.

After the Civil War, as a part of the reconstruction process in this country, Congress passed what was called the Ku Klux Klan Act.

And the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan Act was to allow people to sue when there's a conspiracy to interfere with a government process, with a government function.

And that's what we sued under.

We sued Trump and these two men who attacked Officer Sicknick for conspiring together to interrupt the Government functioning to the Congress, keep it from certifying the Electoral College vote.

If it weren't for Donald Trump, it weren't for these two men attacking Officer Sicknick, Officer Sicknick would be alive today and would be with his fiance and would be having a, you know, a good, full life.

But, of course, Donald Trump took that away from them.

- There is still two years later, a lot of emotion tied to January 6th.

And sad to say, there is a lot of emotion tied to supporters of those from January 6th.

And as time goes by, I'm not seeing that lessens, that the facts sort of open their eyes of, "Oh, my God, really?

That's what happened?

That's wrong, we should never do that in a democracy."

No, I'm seeing more along the lines of those who have been prosecuted are political prisoners that they don't think they did anything wrong, that they would do it again.

And, of course, Donald Trump is continually fueling the fire with this, that Ashli Babbitt, one of the tragic deaths of that day, shot by a police officer that she was executed, meaning unlawfully, it's a nightmare.

- After Brian died, I got a very hateful letter in the mail.

I still don't know who this person was, but they sent me a letter in the mail saying, "I'm glad Brian is dead and I hope more officers follow in his footsteps."

So this is the kind of stuff that other people typically don't have to deal with, you know, but it's a reality for myself, you know, and other survivors in these kind of situations.

And the agony with it was just horrible.

Well, basically, I mean, facts are facts.

If they look at the footage that happened, it's very obvious that that was not a peaceful day.

Police officers were getting attacked, they were getting beaten, fire extinguishers were thrown at them.

They were being attacked by flagpoles, I mean, Mike and Officer Dunn here, they can basically tell you right now what they experienced.

And it wasn't a tourist day, it wasn't tourists just possibly walking by.

- If January 6th didn't happen, Brian would still be here.

Plain and simple.

(scene change scratching) - This has probably been among the most important cases that I've worked on in my career.

Aaron and Jeffrey Smith have forever changed the conversation about mental health and silent injuries to those who protect us in this country.

The federal law has actually changed and the legislative history references Jeff and Aaron on the Senate floor.

- In addition, we want police departments across the nation to recognize that no matter how an officer dies, every death should be investigated and determined if it's line of duty.

It shouldn't matter if they died by suicide or if they died in a car accident.

A death is a death and the departments need to recognize that.

(dramatic music) (ominous music) - Police officers have a 54% greater risk of suicide than the American population in general.

Officers not only sustain severe physical injuries, there are many more scores of officers who sustain mental injuries.

These are fathers, their mothers, their husbands, their wives who bravely put their lives on the line each and every day.

And it's important for us to make sure that our protectors are protected.

(ominous music) - On that fateful day, President Trump's words were reckless, endangered my family, and everyone at the Capitol.

But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution.

(ominous music) Now voters will be faced with the same choice.

- We're at a unique moment in history, right, where, and I feel like we're teetering on a knife's edge in a lot of ways.

And we could stay at democracy in the way that we all learn that the country is in our, you know, junior high civics class or we could fall into something darker.

It's important that we do what we have to develop a historical record so that the next time this happens in 50 years or 100 years, people look back and they see what Donald Trump did.

They see the ugly currents in American politics and they know how to watch out for people exploiting those.

- And we become president and you are the happiest people.

- January 6th, I could not believe the phone call I got.

It was Capitol Police.

So I was thinking, "Oh, my God, was he shot?"

And I kept asking and the officer on the other line wouldn't tell me.

He just said I needed to get to the hospital right away.

And then I got to the hospital and that was just another nightmare in and of itself.

I got there and the doctor told me that basically, he was on a ventilator and I knew then.

I asked if I could go back and see him and they would not let me go back there to see him, which was even more devastating because of COVID.

(somber music) When I got in the hospital room, he was laying there and I remember I initially reached out for his hand, to touch his hand and it was cold.

And I remember that was really uncomfortable for me.

So I put my hand on his forearm and his forearm was still warm.

And so I kept my hand on his s forearm.

I just was talking to him and I was just telling him how much I loved him and I couldn't believe that he was gone.

And after sitting there for a while, I got up and I kissed his forehead.

(sobs) Sorry.

And I just told him that I would love him forever and always.

Thank you.

(somber music) So that was really hard.

(sniffs) Thank you.

(somber music) - [News Anchor 2] And it will happen as the court is releasing new videos of the assault on three capitol police officers, including Brian Sicknick, who died a day later after several strokes, which the medical examiner attributed to natural causes.

(motorbikes droning) (somber music) - [Reverend] Would you pray with me?

(somber music) Still our hearts, oh, God, in this moment.

As overwhelmed as we are with grief, shock, uncertainty, even anger.

And all the other emotions that invade this hallowed occasion.

Sanctify this place with your holy presence.

(somber bagpipe music) - [Narrator] The cremains of Officer Brian Sicknick are being taken to Arlington National Cemetery.

He was 42 years old when he died defending the Capitol and Congress from an attack on January 6th.

Another 140 officers were injured that day.

Officer Sicknick is one of only five private citizens who have laid in honor in the US Capitol.

(intense music) - That was scary that day because of my physical safety.

But in the weeks following, the months following and all the stuff that we're learning about how close we came to losing it, it becomes even more scarier.

- I now recognize Officer Dunn to summarize his testimony.

- At the top of the, I confronted a group of insurrectionists warning them, "Do not go back.

Go down those steps."

One of them shouted, "Keep moving, Patriots."

Another displayed what looked like a law enforcement badge and told me, "We're doing this for you."

How can these thin blue lines that everybody talks about it, the police that we held off, what if we didn't?

Does our democracy fail because of that?

All those back-to-blue and support our law enforcement, all that stuff is just talking points.

There's stuff that just sounds good on a sound clip, a sound bite, you know, until actually, people put their actions or their votes behind those words, it don't mean anything.

Anybody can go put a thin blue line sticker on their car or put in their Twitter handle, "We support police."

But until your actions show that no matter what, then you're full of it.

- I got real pissed-off a few weeks ago when a bunch of Pennsylvania State troopers opposed in uniform with their department's insignia with Donald Trump.

This is Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, the same mother (censored) that sent 1,000 of his supporters to the Capitol to attack police officers 'cause who do you think was protecting that God-damn building?

It wasn't gonna be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It was gonna be me and my colleagues at the Metropolitan Police Department and US Capitol Police.

And so, you know, the fact that you would pose in a picture with somebody who is, you know, in my mind, the biggest mass police assaulter of our time, it's just (censored) outrageous.

There weren't a lot of Black and Brown faces in that (censored) picture.

There's a bunch of white (censored) cops from Pennsylvania posing with Donald Trump.

And I'm not gonna say, you can draw your own conclusions, but you know, it's like if it walks like a duck, it quacks like a (censored) duck, it looks like a (censored) duck, it's a God-damn duck.

(intense whooshing) - January 6th, everybody knew who did it.

January 7th they knew who did it.

A week later they were like, "Oh, well, nothing happened here."

And they decided to play politics for a tragedy that would've had caused the American democracy.

- These are not hardened thugs, murderers, or gang members with long histories of crimes.

These are not unruly or dangerous violent criminals.

- If you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.

- [Reporter 2] That same congressman shown in this picture trying to barricade the door on January 6th.

- Yeah, it's disturbing.

The Capitol police officer that did the shooting actually appeared to be hiding, lying in wait, and he gave no warning before killing her.

Question again, why hasn't that officer that executed Ashli Babbitt been named?

- Go down the stairs.

- This, and look here, look.

- Ted Cruz's objection to the Arizona, - This is objection, he was gonna sell us out all along, - Really?

- Look, objection to counting electoral votes of the State of Arizona.

Wait, no that's okay.

- All right, all right.

(censored) - You never use words carelessly and yet you called this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack, that's a lie.

You told that lie on purpose, and I'm wondering why you did.

- What I was referring to are the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers.

Now, I think you and I both agree that if you assault a police officer, you should go to jail.

I wasn't saying that the thousands of peaceful protestors supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists, I wasn't saying the millions of patriots across the country supporting President Trump are terrorists, what you just said doesn't make sense.

I have referred to people who violently assault police officers as terrorists.

I've done so over and over and over again.

If you look at all the assaults we've seen across the country, I've called that terrorism over and over again.

That being said, Tucker, I agree with you, it was a mistake to say that yesterday.

And the reason is what you just said.

- Well, lemme give you my view of what happened January the 6th, and we all were here.

We saw what happened.

It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election.

I've made the decision to oppose the house.

Democrats slanted an unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January the 6th.

It's not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement.

- One thing that I find very disappointed is some of the people that we protected, they defend the very same rioters who were hunting them down room by room.

- We paid for it.

(crowd indistinct shouting) This is our house.

(crowd indistinct shouting) - These are dads, brothers, veterans, teachers, all political prisoners should continue to be persecuted and endure the pain of unjust suffering.

I repeatedly called for all individuals arrested for illegal acts on January 6th to be treated fairly.

They're deserving of equal justice under the law.

(dramatic drumming) (intense music) - The day of our testimony to Congress, there was a group of people, elected officials that were to petition the Department of Justice to argue, and for those same Babbitt rioters who attacked them and us saying that those people like the patriots and that they needed to be released as soon as possible.

What they telling me with that, where their action is to them, we the police officer, we are the bad guys.

- I've said many times, like, I don't know how these Capitol police officers continue to come into work every day knowing that their bosses don't even give a (censored) enough about their personal safety to address some of the issues that led to January 6th.

I mean that in addition to the fact that like you've got dozens of members of Congress who are insurrectionists.

I mean, (scoffs and laughs) I left Capitol Police a long time ago and I'll tell you like there were a lot of reasons behind it.

The main reason was, you know, as a US Capitol police officer, your job is to secure the Capitol grounds and members of Congress, essentially, you need to be willing to trade your life for a member of Congress.

And there ain't one God-damn member of Congress that I can (censored) trade my life, let alone, you know, my worst enemy's life for.

(intense music) - My life had been changed.

I thought I was gonna retire as a police officer on my own terms.

I had to do it Now because of my disability.

Many of my fellow, all Capital officers as well as MPD officers suffer several physical injuries from the violent inflicted on us on January 6th.

I sustained injuries on both my hands, my left shoulder, my left calf, and my right foot.

I already had undergone bone fusion surgery on my right foot and I was just told that I need surgery on my left shoulder.

I have been on medical and I'm in straight leave for much of the past six months, and I expect to need further rehabilitation for possibly more than a year.

- Sergeant Gonell has a military background where it's well-known he had suffered PTSD, so that traumatized him further on January 6th.

This was probably worse what he experienced in Iraq in the time he served there on active duty in facing literally American citizens, fellow citizens attacking him to the point where he wasn't sure if he would survive to the end of the day.

- I can't hug my wife or my son the way I want to.

Sometimes, still painful.

There's a lot of things that changed my life, but I think staying quiet is not one of those.

There are some who express outrage when someone kneels while calling for social justice.

Where are the same people expressing the outrage to condemn the violence attack on law enforcement, the Capitol in our American democracy.

- I don't think January 6th was a racist event, but I believe there were a lot of racists there that day.

More and more insurrectionists were pouring into the area by the speaker's lobby near the Rotunda and some wearing MAGA Hats and shirts that said, "Trump 2020."

I told them to just leave the Capitol and in response, they yelled, "No, man, this is our house.

President Trump invited us here.

We're here to Stop the Steal."

Joe Biden is not the president.

Nobody voted for Joe Biden.

I'm a law enforcement officer, and I do my best to keep politics out of my job, but in this circumstance, I responded.

Well, I voted for Joe Biden.

Does my vote not count?

Am I nobody?

(intense music) (deeply sighs) That prompted a torrent of racial epithets.

One woman in a pink MAGA shirt yelled, "You hear that, guys?

This (censored) voted for Joe Biden."

Then the crowd, perhaps around 20 people joined in, screaming, "Boo, (censored)" (intense music) While it happened, I didn't process it as me being attacked for the color of my skin while it happened.

I was just trying to make it home and survive through that day.

But once, when I had a moment to process it, I'm like, "Wow, I'm being attacked for existing as a Black person."

That it hurt.

It hurt.

- Without objection, I include in the record a video presentation of the violence of January 6th.

(ominous music) (crowd indistinct shouting) - [Officer Edwards] We're trying to hold you up out back.

We're trying to hold you up a bit now.

We need to hold the doors of the Capitol.

(crowd indistinct shouting) I need more support.

(dramatic Trumpet music) (crowd indistinct shouting) (poor sound quality) (intense music) - I am here to serve my country.

And you know, as a Black person, as a Black man, every Black officer, I think, there that day, fought a different battle.

- Even through my mask, they saw my skin color and said, "You're not even an American."

(intense music) (crowd indistinct shouting) When I was 25 years old and then a sergeant in the army, I had deployed to Iraq.

In Iraq, we spent the armed violence because we were in a war zone.

But nothing in my experience in the army or as a law enforcement officer prepared me for what we confronted on January 6th.

- But the fact that they brought race into it and used that as a weapon, that was hard to deal with.

- You described talking to your fellow Black officer about what you went through and experiencing those racial epithets.

You asked a question, I think that I've been haunted by ever since, "Is this America?"

and I'm very interested to know your thoughts on the answer to that question.

Is this America what you saw?

- It sounds silly, but I guess it is American, and it's so, but it's not the side of America that I like.

Not the side of that any of us here represent.

We represent the good side of America, the people that actually believe in decency, human decency.

And we appeal to just the good in people.

I'm reminded every day that that building built by our ancestors' slaves to represent what it does now.

It's like, it's come full circle.

They slaves built that building and now me a descendant of those individuals and they're protecting it.

So I look at it, I take my job as more than just a paycheck.

It means a lot to me.

I'm honored to protect that building.

(dramatic scratching) (footsteps clomping) - One of the most important things for me is to protect and to help the US Capitol police officers that are there right now.

A lot of them are still struggling with the grief and the trauma.

After the insurrection, the Howard C Liebengood Wellness Center was established to address the needs of the law enforcement community.

And I am working to make sure that we are able to create a program that can address the needs of this ailing workforce.

When I see many of Howie's colleagues, I see Howie, and I know that they aren't going to, you know, raise their hand and ask for help.

Having been married to Howie for almost a decade, I recognize a lot of the challenges in law enforcement and it's important for me to make sure that I can be that vehicle, that I could be that voice to drive change.

I have nothing to lose right now.

I've already lost my husband and I want to make sure that his death was not in vain.

(somber music) - I received a call earlier this week, I picked up, said it was from the White House, said that Biden wanted to gimme this Presidential Citizens Medal.

It's the second-highest honor available to a non-military member in the country, which I was blown away.

So it's an incredible honor.

(attendees indistinct chatter) - [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, the President of the United States.

(audience applauds) - As the Constitution refers to us, we, the people did not flinch.

We the people endured.

We the people prevailed.

We honor of a remarkable group of Americans who embodied the best before, during, and after January the 6th, 2021.

- My motivation now for continuing to participate in this conversation isn't born out of anything other than I love my kids and I don't want them to grow up in a country that, in any way, resembles what we're, you know, dealing with right now.

- For the first time in my presidency, I'm bestowing the Presidential Citizens Medal.

One of our nation's highest civilian honors.

(audience applauds) (gentle music) And history will remember your names and remember your courage, remember your bravery, remember your extraordinary commitments to your fellow Americans.

(audience applauds) (gentle music) And it's not exaggeration to say America owes you.

Owes you all.

I really mean this.

A debt.

A debt of gratitude.

(audience applauds) One we can never fully repay unless we live up to what you did.

- There are a lot of powerful interests being threatened by what happened that day.

The lies are continuing even to this day, and they will continue probably for the rest of time.

- What we went through was real and the threat to the democracy is real.

- The number one thing though that Republicans and Democrats have to face right now as a country and independence is the defense of democracy.

- Today is the launch at the Howard C Liebengood Foundation.

Over the past couple of years, in my grief, I've struggled to make sure that his death was not in vain.

Creating this foundation and rallying support allows me to make sure that the systems that felt Howie could be corrected.

As a suicide survivor and a physician with a background in public health, I realized there are tremendous opportunities to address this public health crisis.

- President Biden wanted me to extend his personal congratulations on the launch of the foundation, condolences on the passing of your beloved husband, and a friend to so many of us, and his enthusiasm for working with you.

He was one of those courageous Americans who rushed toward danger regardless of personal risk to stand up for the rule of law.

And he ultimately gave his life defending the Democratic Institutions he revered from a violent mob of insurrectionists.

- Serena, in the wake of an unimaginable loss, you have honored Howie's life.

All of us at the Justice Department are proud to stand alongside all of you in our shared commitment to supporting officer safety, health, and wellness.

Every single day, law enforcement officers are asked to risk their lives as they respond to some of the most difficult moments that our communities will face.

In doing so, they endure stress and trauma at a level that the rest of us cannot even begin to comprehend.

They should not have to face that alone.

They must not face that alone.

We are with you.

(audience applauds) - I think the health and wellness of the law enforcement officers are at stake.

They simply show up to work day after day, just to do their jobs.

This isn't about political ideologies.

This is about serving and protecting democracy.

- Justice to me is sort of the small J and the large J.

The small J would be to hold accountable those who participated, supported, advocated for the actual events of January 6th.

But the big J is the more important one and that's to make sure that we learn from January 6th to make sure it doesn't happen again.

So that instead of the Reich stag fire of 1933 in Germany actually, fueling the rise of the Nazi party to where we ended up for the next dozen years afterwards, that we look at January 6th and we go, "That is not what we are about in American democracy and we are not going to tolerate that from whatever party it might be that is trying to attack American democracy."

- And if you put me back in the White House, their reign is over.

Their reign will be over and they know it.

And America will be a free nation once again.

We're not a free nation right now.

We don't have free press, we don't have free anything.

In 2016, I declared, "I am your voice."

Today I add, "I am your warrior, I am your justice.

And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution."

I am your retribution.

(cheering drowns out Trump) - I've been called a lot of names and the two names that I resent the most, (scoffs) are being called a Democrat because I dislike Donald Trump.

And being called a Republican because I voted for Donald Trump.

I do admit that I did not pay enough attention like I think many Americans to, you know, how fragile our democracy was prior to January 6th, 2021.

I do recognize how fragile our democracy is and it has shaken my belief in our institutions of government because they're only as strong as the people that lead them and and participate in them.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Funding provided by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

(intense music) (intense music continues)