Capitol Officer Publicly Taunts Trump For Betraying Americans Values

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Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police is among those fed up with the antics of former President Donald Trump and his enablers within the Republican Party. Gonell was among the law enforcement personnel who defended the Capitol in January against the onslaught from the Trump-inspired mob, and he was also among the officers who subsequently shared their personal experiences of the turmoil at a public hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot in July. Among other recent tweets, Gonell called for a full accounting of Trump’s “betrayal” of “democracy” — and he said that rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot as she attempted to forcibly make her way to where lawmakers were hiding, died “because” of Trump.

In response to a post about the Biden administration declining to assert executive privilege over Trump era documents that the riot investigation committee was after, Gonell pointedly commented as follows:

‘Please shed light on [Trump’s] assault and betrayal to his oath of office, the constitution, our democracy and the American people.’

Gonell spoke about Babbitt in response to a post featuring a video message that the former president recorded for the Babbitt family. Certain right-wingers have adamantly refused to acknowledge that, when the tragedy of her shooting unfolded, she was actively involved in criminal acts that threatened the very functioning of democracy in the United States. What if Babbitt and other rioters had been able to physically access government leaders? There was a gallows put up outside of the Capitol, and a portion of the mob chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” at one point. These people were not “tourists.”

Referring to Trump, Gonell pointedly commented as follows:

‘OMG…there [is] no bottom…he doesn’t realize [Babbitt] died because of him, but he wants an investigation. How many layers after layers did she breached to get to the chamber?’

Among other posts, Gonell also called for criminal prosecutions of those who defy subpoenas from the riot investigation committee. Former top Trump adviser Steve Bannon has already announced his intention to refuse to abide by his subpoena, and Gonell commented as follows:

‘Enforce the subpoenas. Make them pay financially and/or jail time…better yet, do both. These so called patriots. SMH’

During that July hearing, Gonell criticized those trying to downplay what happened. As he put it:

‘Even though there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary, including hours and hours of videos, and photographic coverage, there’s a continued shocking attempt to ignore or try to destroy the truth of what truly happened that day, and to whitewash the facts into something other than what they unmistakably reveal: an attack on our democracy by violent domestic extremists, and a stain on our history and our moral standing, here at home and abroad.’