During his testimony about the January 6 Capitol riot, DC Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges described his horrifying experience of the day and answered questions from the bipartisan House committee.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat representing Delaware, asked Hodges why he referred to the insurrectionists as "terrorists," rather than "tourists"—referring to Georgia Republican Representative Andrew Clyde comparing the rioters to tourists during an earlier House Oversight Committee hearing.
"Some of our colleagues have been calling the violent insurrectionists not terrorists but tourists. Why do you call the attackers terrorists, and what do you think about our colleagues who think we should call them tourists?"
Hodges' first pithy response garnered laughter from the committee.
"Well, if that's what American tourists are like, I can see why foreign countries don't like American tourists
He then continued with a more serious answer:
"But I can see why someone would take issue with the title of 'terrorist.' It's gained a lot of notoriety in our vocabulary the past few decades."
"And we like to believe that that couldn't happen here — no domestic terrorism, no homegrown threats."
"But I came prepared."
He then read aloud the definition of "domestic terrorism" from U.S. Code.
That definition is:
"The term 'domestic terrorism' means activities that—(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended—(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;(ii)to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C)occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."
View Officer Hodges' mic drop moment in the video below:
Twitter users appreciated Hodges creating a moment of humor amidst the horrors of the officers' personal accounts of the day.
Best witness answer so for today!— Chet Buell (@Chet Buell) 1627403878
Gallows humor. I love it!— LIFO the Party\ud83c\udfb6 (@LIFO the Party\ud83c\udfb6) 1627409028
Loved it!pic.twitter.com/0OG0OqNpuY— Caryn Bowers \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc99 (@Caryn Bowers \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc99) 1627409462
A moment of levity\u2026 my heart is for these officers.— Jacy or JC, if you prefer... (@Jacy or JC, if you prefer...) 1627404616
You can see Hodges' full testimony of his experiences—which wasn't all so lighthearted—here:
