First, President Donald Trump issued pardons and other acts of clemency for 1,500 rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, leaving police officers like Aquilino Gonell bloodied, many with injuries that would end their careers.
Then, rioters started asking for reparations, committing alleged child sex crimes, or leading anti-Muslim protests.
This summer, the Trump administration agreed to bestow military honors on Ashli Babbit, the air force veteran who died while trying to storm the Speaker’s lobby, as “Stop the Steal” protestors attempted to block certification of the 2020 presidential election Joe Biden won.
And in November, U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin said Trump issued another set of sweeping pardons to nearly 80 individuals, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mark Meadows, who helped Trump “put this scheme together” to overturn the 2020 result, Gonell said.
By contrast, Capitol police officers who served on Jan. 6 have “not even a plaque, no benefits, no awards, no settlements,” Gonell told Raw Story.
“It’s more like a gut punch or a stab in the back — you go deeper than the slap in the face. It’s a desecration to the service and sacrifices that the officers like myself bravely did on January 6.”
Gonell spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and wrote a book, “American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy,” about serving in Iraq and as a police sergeant on Jan. 6.
Pro-Trump protesters tear down a barricade on January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
But he told Raw Story that as Trump continues to “whitewash, minimize, downplay, condone or excuse the behavior of a lot of those people who committed the violence,” he has needed to take a step back from such a public role.
“It was my hope that all the actions that I took on January 6 were not in vain, and the people will learn from it, the American people will learn from it, that Congress, those elected officials who I risked my life, they at least thank us for what we did,” Gonell said.
“Republican elected officials, they can’t get themselves to do that, because they’re going to upset” Trump, he said.
‘Betrayal after betrayal’
Gonell ended up medically retiring after requiring two surgeries for injuries to his foot and shoulder sustained on Jan. 6. He now brings in less than 75 percent of the income he made as a Capitol police officer, he said.
He also suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Officers who responded on Jan. 6, Gonell said, must “learn how to live with the disabilities or trauma on our own.”
Politicians, he said, “don’t give a s— about us, especially those who protected them on Jan. 6 and risked our lives in order to give them a chance to escape, which they did.
“It’s a never-ending betrayal after betrayal after betrayal, especially from the Republican-led officials that I risked my life for. That’s one thing that they have been consistent about.”
Republicans have refused to install a plaque honoring Jan. 6 officers despite a mandate to do so being included in a government funding law more than three years ago.
Gonell said the plaque was supposed to be installed in the west tunnel under the U.S. Capitol, where he “almost died,” but Republicans “can’t even get themselves to do that, the bare minimum. But for the members of the mob, they go out in force, in full.”
Aquilino Gonell in Iraq (provided photo)
Gonell said he had considered voting for Republicans in the past, “but I never got myself to do it.” Now, he said, “each elected official from the Republican Party has turned their back against me and my colleagues. There’s no support for January 6 officers.
“They say they do, but each action they take is averse to what they say.”
When Gonell voted in 2024, a woman attempted to give him a Republican sample ballot.
Gonell replied, “‘F— no. His mob and his people tried to kill me in the Capitol when I was working as a police officer in the tunnel.’
“She just bowed her head down and walked back.”
‘Very despicable’
Gonell immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at 12. He became a U.S. citizen and said he voted for the first time in 2004, while stationed in Iraq.
Two decades later, the second Trump administration is pursuing aggressive immigration enforcement. Cases reported by Raw Story include the detention and deportation of a breastfeeding mother, and young people with pending immigration cases.
Gonell called such treatment of immigrants “very despicable.”
Agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically wear masks and full tactical gear without identification. That, Gonell said, “reminds me of January 6.”
Members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers showed up at the Capitol in body armor and wielding weapons. Officers fought them for hours.
Gonell said he’s been called a “traitor, un-American” by Trump supporters.
“It’s shameful on their part, but again, I don’t expect much from them, given that despite the repeated violations of the Constitution by President Trump … they don’t care,” he said.
Gonell wondered for Republicans if “there’s a line that they are not willing to cross.”
That could be the release of the FBI files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was awaiting trial for charges related to sex trafficking of minors when he killed himself in 2019.
A former friend of Epstein, Trump has reversed course on release of the Epstein files. In more than 20,000 emails released by Epstein’s estate, Epstein called Trump the “dog that hasn’t barked.”
“I think with a recent revelation about emails and Epstein files, that might break through, but then again, they always come back and try to excuse whatever deficiencies,” Gonell said.
Gonell speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Gonell recently published an essay for Home of the Brave, a nonprofit amplifying voices speaking out against the Trump administration.
He said he ultimately wonders, “Who’s being held accountable for Jan. 6?
“Trump pardoned all those people who assaulted us, who breached and stormed the Capitol, people who maimed us, people who ended our careers, people who traumatized us, people who put in jeopardy the lives of each and every elected official, their staff, reporters and the police officers who were defending the Capitol on January 6.
“I don’t even know what to say, just out of words because I’m aghast. It’s kind of like, how low can they go?”
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