Capitol Officer Goodman ends silence about Jan. 6
For the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman has spoken out publicly about his experiences during the attack, where his actions were credited with saving countless lives.
Officer Goodman was hailed as a hero after video footage from HuffPost political reporter Igor Bobic showed Officer Goodman standing alone at one point, facing down a mob of proTrump rioters, who had stormed the Capitol seeking to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden’s electoral college win.
In the video, Officer Goodman can be seen luring the mob away from the Senate chambers, where lawmakers were sheltering. Other footage from that day also showed Officer Goodman redirecting Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, to safety as rioters were spilling into the Capitol. The insurrection resulted in five deaths and injured about 140 members of law enforcement.
For more than a year, Officer Goodman kept a low profile, declining interviews with several media outlets. But he appeared in an interview posted Monday on the “3 Brothers No Sense” podcast, where he spoke candidly with the show’s three hosts about the attack and wrestling with the ups and downs of subsequent fame, which included being featured on the cover of Time magazine.
“I keep asking myself that question every day, like who the hell am I?” Officer Goodman told the hosts at the beginning of the interview when they joked that it felt surreal to have landed the first exclusive interview with him after he turned down so many others. But Officer Goodman said he felt safe with them, noting one of the hosts is Byron “Buff” Evans, a personal friend and co-worker who was also at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Officer Goodman said most people don’t realize he was actually outside for a bit during the siege. When he ran into the mob at the Senate, Officer Goodman said, he was surprised to see that the crowd had penetrated the inside of the complex.
“I honestly didn’t know they were that far up into the building,” Officer Goodman said. “[I thought,] ‘ Aw hell, they’re actually in the building.’ They lock eyes on me right away, and just like that, I was in it. It wasn’t a matter of let me leave them alone or not. I feel like they would have followed me anyway.”
Officer Goodman, who is a veteran, said his military training and real-life experience in the Army — when “nothing ever went to plan, ever” — helped him think on the fly, even if he didn’t realize it at the time.
“I was just in go mode, you know what I mean?” he said, adding that he was focused on safety and de-escalation “to a point” as he faced angry people screaming in his face, some of whom he suspected could have been armed.
“Any situation like that you want to de-escalate, but at the same time you want to survive first,” Officer Goodman said.
Mr. Evans also revealed on the show that the chatter online about police officers, including Officer Goodman, was largely negative in the immediate aftermath of the attack. It wasn’t until Mr. Bobic’s footage of Officer Goodman’s actions that day went viral that the narrative shifted to call him a hero, they said.
Officer Goodman was chosen to escort Vice President Kamala Harris at the inauguration in his new role at deputy Senate sergeantIn a time of bitter bipartisanship, the
Senate voted unanimously last February to award Officer Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the country.
Officer Goodman credited his family, particularly his daughter, with supporting him and giving him a safe zone during the aftermath of the insurrection. Even before the attack, he said he took pride in “not bringing work home,” which was difficult on Jan. 6 because he still had pepper spray on his uniform.
“I’ve had my ups and downs with the popularity. ... That’s mostly why I haven’t been doing any interviews or anything like that.”
Officer Goodman said he once saw a man selling sweatshirts with his face on them — and when he went to buy one, the vendor still asked him to pay.
“I’m just like wow, OK, this dude gonna charge me for my own face. That’s funny,” Officer Goodman said. “I respected the hustle and I bought one. Everybody got to eat.”
He also said it was jarring to see people tweet things like“Eugene Goodman Day” on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, and he told the “3 Brothers No Sense” hosts that he would not want a statue of himself.
“That’s just one more thing for a bird to poop on,” he joked.