Trump says he'll pardon Jan. 6 rioters. This Capitol Police officer calls it a betrayal
The U.S. president-elect will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, and promises pardons on Day 1
As Congress certified Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Monday, Sgt. Aquilino Gonell turned off the TV because he couldn't bear to watch.
Gonell, a retired Capitol Police officer, was injured in the line of duty four years ago when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the very same proceedings to certify President Joe Biden's victory.
Many who were there, Gonnell included, have described Jan. 6, 2021, as a dark day in American history. Trump, however, has referred to it as a "day of love."
Now, with Trump returning to the White House with a promise to pardon the Capitol Hill rioters on his first day in office, Gonell says he feels betrayed by the politicians and the country he swore to protect.
"It was not a loving day, like the former president says. People's lives and livelihoods were taken ... because of what he and his supporters did to us, the police officers," Gonell told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.
"Many of those same elected officials who today got a chance to certify the elections are alive today because of the actions that officers like myself and my colleagues did on that fateful day."
Trump says there could be 'some exceptions'
Monday's proceedings played out in an orderly fashion, a stark contrast to the riots four years earlier.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters, falsely asserting the election was stolen, stormed the Capitol, roamed its halls and fought with police as lawmakers hid for their lives.
Since then, more than 1,250 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted in connection with riots, with more than 650 receiving prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
Trump, who continues to maintain that he won four years ago, has vowed to pardon many of those convicted on his first day in office, which is Jan. 20.
"Those people have suffered long and hard," he told NBC's Meet the Press, noting he may make "some exceptions … if somebody was radical, crazy."
That promise is a slap in the face for Gonell, who has testified that he was bitten, punched and beaten with a bat, a flagpole and his own baton while trying to keep the mob at bay.
He is one of roughly 140 officers who were injured on Jan. 6, making it "likely the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement" in American history, according to Matthew Graves, the District of Columbia's outgoing U.S. attorney.
"These are violent criminals, people that were assaulting a police officer in the line of duty," Gonnell said.
"It is very challenging to reconcile that the person that claims to be [for] the law and order, the biggest supporter of police, is the one that is about to pardon people who were breaking the law on his behalf, under his banner."
Some lawmakers who were there that day also spoke out against pardons for rioters.
"I'm pretty controlled and pretty disciplined, but that would be really hard," said Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat who was trapped in the House gallery as rioters tried to break in below.
"Too many of us had very personal experiences with the people who are serving time or were convicted."
Republicans divided on how to issue pardons
Not everyone sees it that way. Some Republicans, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, are calling for blanket pardons for the rioters, "even the ones that fought Capitol Police."
"I think they've served their time," she said. "I think it's an injustice. It's a two-tiered justice system, and it's time to end it."
Other Republicans have called for a case-by-case approach. Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally who leads the House judiciary committee, says he supports pardons for "people who didn't commit any violence."
House Democrats, who led the drive to impeach Trump over his role in Jan. 6, warned the pardons could have far-reaching consequences, both for the rule of law and the security of the country, as members of the far-right extremist groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were among those convicted.
"I think anyone who loves peace and security would be offended that you would pardon people who attacked those individuals for doing their jobs," said Missouri Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who led the House committee that investigated the events surrounding Jan. 6.
'They demonize people like me'
Gonnell, meanwhile, says he hasn't fully recovered from the injuries sustained that day, both physical and psychological.
He says he's struggled to access health benefits promised in a 2022 bipartisan bill. He suspects, under a Trump presidency, he never will.
"What makes it even worse is the moral injury," he said. "We did the right thing, and yet we are being vilified, while the rioters, the people who are doing the attacking, are being praised, giving them a hero's welcome, as if they did something great on that day."
It's ironic, he says, that on Jan. 20, many of the same officers who risked their lives to protect lawmakers four years ago will be protecting Trump during his inauguration.
He says it's also ironic that he, an immigrant, put his life on the line to defend the Capitol, while Republicans use anti-immigrant rhetoric.
"They demonize people like me," he said. "That's very dishonourable. It's very shameful. But then again, they don't have any, so they can't feel it."
With files from The Associated Press. Interview with Aquilino Gonell produced by Sarah Jackson
