A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Four years ago today, a mob of then President Donald Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Members of Congress were forced to flee or barricade themselves inside offices. Around 140 police officers were injured. The FBI calls the attacks an act of domestic terrorism. Trump has called January 6, they quote, "day of love." He says he'll pardon people convicted for their role in the attack. NPR's Tom Dreisbach has a story of one officer assaulted that day.
TOM DREISBACH, BYLINE: If you've ever watched the presidential inauguration, you'd probably recognize the part of the Capitol known as the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. The incoming president walks through that tunnel and outside just before taking the oath of office. On January 6, 2021, that tunnel was a crime scene.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWDS RIOTING)
DREISBACH: A police commander told his officers in riot gear to hold the line there. Do not let the rioters breach that tunnel. And what followed was a bloody, hours long scrum, claustrophobic, hand to hand combat for inches.
AQUILINO GONELL: My fellow officers and I were punch, kick, shove, spray with chemical irritants, by a violent mob.
DREISBACH: Aquilino Gonell was a sergeant in the Capitol police. He had served in Iraq with the army, faced roadside bombs and mortar attacks. He later testified that the tunnel brought back memories of war.
GONELL: I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, this is how I'm going to die, defending this entrance.
DREISBACH: The police eventually cleared the tunnel and the Capitol. And Gonell survived, his hands bloodied, his shoulders and feet smashed, his eyes stinging from pepper spray. He would later need two surgeries on his shoulder and foot because of the injuries he got on January 6 and the riot-inflamed PTSD for him and many of his fellow officers.
GONELL: That day continued to be a constant trauma for us literally every day, whether because our physical or emotional injuries or both.
DREISBACH: Gonell's injuries from January 6 ultimately forced him to retire from the Capitol police. But he took his experience and channeled it into speaking out as a witness in court and in Congress and in the presidential race. And so after the election, when Trump won on the promise to pardon the rioters, I called him and asked how he's feeling.
GONELL: Honestly, like, betrayed. It feels like sometimes, like, what did I risk my life for?
DREISBACH: Some of that betrayal is personal. He defended members of Congress on January 6 as they fled the violence. Then he watched as some Republican lawmakers downplayed January 6 or even supported the rioters.
GONELL: The only reason why they made it out was because of actions like - that we, the police officers, took. We did our job and gave them the time to escape, to evacuate, and they seemed to forgotten the fear that Donald Trump's mob made them feel.
DREISBACH: It almost sounds like you blame the Republicans in Congress almost more than Trump himself. Is that right?
GONELL: Well, if you look at it, I mean, he did what he did and Republican elect officials, they were OK with it. They're all willing to carry water for the former president.
DREISBACH: Now that Trump has gone from former president to future president, Gonell is thinking about whether Trump might retaliate against him as both an immigrant and a political opponent. In 2023, Trump reposted a message on social media that, quote, "the cops should be charged and the protesters should be freed."
GONELL: I seen people suggesting that my name is on the list of potential retribution, you know, and what they going to get me on? By doing my job? Attesting to what happened to me?
DREISBACH: The Trump transition team did not answer my questions about whether they would investigate or prosecute police who protected the Capitol. A spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that, quote, "the American people did not fall for the left's fearmongering over January 6," and went on to say that the administration would pardon people who they claim were denied due process and unfairly prosecuted.
Gonell says his feeling of betrayal also runs deeper. He immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when he was a kid. He joined the military, became a citizen, deployed in war, protected the Capitol and then spoke out in the election.
GONELL: It made me think, was it worth it? Was it worth it for me and my colleagues to do what we did?
DREISBACH: Defending the Capitol or speaking out?
GONELL: Both.
DREISBACH: It sounds like this experience since the election has shaken your belief in this country.
GONELL: I mean, yeah. It's hard not to see it that way. I mean, I had done everything that was asked of me. I love this country and it feels like the country doesn't love me back. You know, I remember when I was in Iraq, I came back for my two weeks' R&R, rest and recuperation. And when I came back, I saw people move on. And that's how I feel now. People move on from that day. Officers like myself, we had not been able to.
DREISBACH: That particular kind of American amnesia bothers Gonell. And it's been bothering some of the judges who are still hearing the more than 1,500 criminal cases stemming from the January 6 attack. One judge said the idea of pardoning the leader of the Oath Keepers, the militia group that attacked the Capitol, was, quote, "frightening." Another called out attempts to rewrite history as disturbing. And that's been on Gonell's mind, too.
GONELL: It was a horrible day for - not only for myself, but for my colleagues, and no matter what or how much the other side want to erase it, it won't change that.
DREISBACH: Inauguration day is in two weeks. And the tunnel that Aquilino Gonell and other officers defended on January 6, Donald Trump will walk through it to take the oath of office. Tom Dreisbach, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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