An allegation that a key U.S. Capitol Police witness in the first Oath Keepers Jan. 6 trial gave false testimony on the stand warrants an immediate review of the case “compelling a reversal of the convictions,” a defense attorney told The Epoch Times.
Attorney Brad Geyer, who represented Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson in the more than two-month seditious-conspiracy trial in the fall of 2022, said the revelation published on Oct. 4 “raises profound concerns about the integrity of the entire trial proceedings.”
In January 2021, Mr. Lazarus was a member of the dignitary protection detail for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, he said he assisted with the evacuation of senators and staff from the Senate Chamber through the tunnels and subways leading to nearby office buildings.
The alleged confrontation was key evidence in the trial because it contradicted accounts from Oath Keepers that they stood in front of Officer Dunn as a buffer to protect him from an angry crowd of protesters and prevent what they feared could become a shooting.
An account of the event from Oath Keepers member Graydon Young obtained by The Epoch Times said a team led by Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs got in between a shouting match between an “angry mob” and Officer Dunn.
“He appeared distressed and had his finger on the trigger,” Mr. Young wrote in the document later seized by the FBI. “Our guys de-escalated by firmly telling both sides to calm down. Another police officer was advised to give ground. That police officer acknowledged the situation was a ‘broken arrow.’”
Broken arrow is a term meaning military forces (or police) are about to be overrun.
During the trial, Officer Dunn said he never had his finger on the trigger of his M4 rifle during the incident.
Mr. Geyer said he could not overstate the significance of the agent’s now-disputed testimony.
“Crucially, the Capitol CCTV footage exposes the fallacy of Lazarus’s account,” Mr. Geyer told The Epoch Times in a statement. “It clearly reveals that at the time when Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn supposedly interacted with the Oath Keepers, Lazarus was situated in an entirely different location—specifically, the Capitol tunnels and subway system—escorting U.S. Senators to the Senate office buildings.”
Attorney Edward Tarpley, who represented Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III in the trial, said Mr. Baker’s video analysis “casts serious doubt on the veracity of the testimony of both Officer Harry Dunn and Special Agent David Lazarus.”
“Obviously, had the defense team known about this, it would have made a big difference in the cross-examination of Dunn and Lazarus at trial,” Mr. Tarpley told The Epoch Times in a statement. “Clearly, in light of these revelations, it is imperative that the entire 41,000 hours of CCTV footage be released to the public immediately.
“It should be a priority of the incoming Republican Speaker of the House to immediately order the release of all of the Capitol CCTV video footage,” Mr. Tarpley said.
Mr. Harrelson was part of the Oath Keepers group that said they kept the peace between Officer Dunn and a riled-up crowd in the Small House Rotunda, the space between the Great Rotunda and Statuary Hall at the Capitol.
Mr. Harrelson was one of five defendants convicted in the first Oath Keepers trial. On Nov. 29, 2022, a jury found him guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties, and tampering with documents and proceedings.
On May 26, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Mr. Harrelson to four years in prison and two years of supervised release.
Mr. Meggs received a 12-year prison term for his conviction on five charges, including seditious conspiracy. Mr. Rhodes received an 18-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy and two other charges. He never entered the Capitol, but prosecutors said he planned the alleged Oath Keepers attack on the Capitol.
‘Antagonistic’
Mr. Lazarus said he walked through the Small House Rotunda three or four times as he evacuated about a dozen of Ms. Pelosi’s staff members from the adjacent speaker’s office. Each time, he said, he observed Officer Dunn and the Oath Keepers.“I saw Officer Dunn, like, engaged in conversation or arguing or whatever with the rioters,” Mr. Lazarus testified, according to the official court transcript. “So I just kind of, like, was just figuring out ways, as soon as I get the opportunity to go through, I’m going to go through.
“I couldn’t tell exactly every detail of what they were talking about. But it was clearly politics they were talking about. The election, Stop the Steal, different things like that,” Mr. Lazarus said. “And it was very antagonistic, the dialogue between the folks in [tactical] gear and the rioters and Dunn.”
According to Mr. Baker’s story, at the time the Oath Keepers stood in front of Officer Dunn in the Small House Rotunda, Mr. Lazarus was seen on CCTV video in the tunnels and subway under the Capitol that lead to the Senate office buildings.
Mr. Lazarus’s attempts to return to the Capitol from the tunnels met with delay several times as he stopped to help senators and family members who were trapped in various rooms get to safety, he testified.
Security video shows that by the time Agent Lazarus reached the stairway leading from the Crypt (first floor) up to the Small House Rotunda, it was 2:56:46 p.m. He didn’t emerge into the Small House Rotunda until 3:05 p.m. after federal tactical teams cleared the area of protesters, Mr. Baker wrote.
“It is clear that Lazarus did not arrive at the bottom of the staircase until three and a half minutes after the last of the Oath Keepers had left the area and were exiting the Capitol Building,” Mr. Baker’s story said.
The implications of the contradictory evidence are huge, Mr. Geyer said.
‘Compelling a Reversal’
“The realization that my client, Sergeant Kenneth Harrelson (retired), was wrongfully convicted based on fabricated testimonies given under oath is deeply distressing,” Mr. Geyer said. “We firmly believe that this newly unearthed evidence necessitates an immediate review of the case, compelling a reversal of the convictions.”The Epoch Times reached out to U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Department of Justice but did not receive a response before press time.
Even before questions about Mr. Lazarus’s location and the Oath Keepers story came to light, his testimony at trial contradicted the accounts told by Officer Dunn at trial and in interviews with the FBI.
At trial, Officer Dunn testified that when he came up the stairway from the Crypt level to the Small House Rotunda, Mr. Lazarus was already there.
“When I got to the top of the stairwell, I saw him being accosted, yelled at,” Officer Dunn said. “My thought that he was—they thought that he may have been a member of Congress because he was in a suit and had a USA pin on his lapel.”
According to the security video cited in Mr. Baker’s article, when Officer Dunn reached the top of the stairs at the Small House Rotunda, it was 2:44 p.m. At that time, Mr. Lazarus was seen on security video in the tunnels under the Capitol, assisting senators and staff to safety in the Senate office buildings.
Under direct examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Hughes, Officer Dunn described the men seen in Mr. Horn’s video, but he did not identify them as Oath Keepers. He told Ms. Hughes that no one in the video ever offered to help him.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Juli Haller, who represented Mr. Meggs, asked Officer Dunn if he previously told the FBI that he allowed the Oath Keepers to stand in front of him.
“And do you recall that you told them that they could stand in front of you to help keep the protesters from getting down the stairs because you were by yourself?” Ms. Haller asked.
“No, that’s not correct,” Officer Dunn replied.
Officer Dunn later told Mr. Geyer that the instance where he allowed men who were dressed like Oath Keepers to stand in front of him was actually in the Crypt, one floor below. He was guarding the stairs that led to the basement level, where police officers were being decontaminated from pepper spray, he said.
“Now, are you aware that the Oath Keepers, based on best government evidence, never were down in the Crypt or down on that floor?” Mr. Geyer asked.
FBI Interview
In his interview with FBI special agents Whitney Drew and Michael Palian in May 2021, Officer Dunn said he had two interactions with the Oath Keepers on Jan. 6.“Dunn advised of two interactions with men in military attire, whom he later learned were called ‘Oath Keepers,’” read the FBI’s 302 summary of the interview, obtained by The Epoch Times. “Dunn noted the Oath Keepers had similar gear to what the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] was wearing that day.”
Officer Dunn repeated what he later said on the stand, that his first encounter with the Oath Keepers was in the Crypt, one level below the Rotunda. “Dunn advised he allowed them to stand in front of him to help keep the protestors from getting down the stairs,” the FBI summary said.
The second interaction was in the Small House Rotunda across from the speaker’s office.
“At this time, there were no attempts to de-escalate the situation and no attempts to protect officers,” the FBI summary said. “Dunn advised he was guarding a stairwell near the Speaker’s Office and was trying to calm down the Oath Keepers in the area.”
Officer Dunn’s FBI interview differed from his trial testimony on Oct. 31, 2022.
“Now, you can clearly see that in your interactions with the Oath Keepers, you don’t appear to be calming them down at all, do you? They’re, in fact, in front [of] you, and you’re behind them; isn’t that true?” Mr. Geyer asked.
“You said I’m calming them down?” Officer Dunn asked. When Mr. Geyer said, “Yes,” Officer Dunn replied, “No, I’m not calming them down.”
