Understandably, longtime Capitol Police officer Aquilino Gonell remains clearly frustrated with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). In case you didn’t know, Gonell is one of the officers who participated in the defense of the Capitol grounds against rioting Trump supporters in early 2021. Gonell was injured by the mob, and in the wake of the violence, he resigned from service as he dealt with those physical impacts.
Gonell was among those who responded recently to a promotional image Greene shared that showed her outside the U.S. Capitol with a large firearm. The image wasn’t a photograph and instead had been edited to show the featured scene, but it was yet another example of what’s effectively Republicans’ embrace of violence. Just look at the level of support that Greene and other Republicans like Donald Trump himself have consistently provided to participants in the Capitol rampage, many of whom were either convicted of or pleaded guilty to violently attacking police officers.
“Finding this outrageous and dangerous is an understatement,” Gonell wrote on Twitter this week. “On Jan 6 many officers nearly died, some pay the ultimate price for her delusional obsession with political violence her supporters. She is no longer flirting with violence. She is encouraging it…again.”
Gonell has also previously written in favor of the potential removal of Greene from office for her ties to the attack at the Capitol. She has been a very prominent supporter — even very recently — of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, spouting nonsense that’s been refuted by credible authorities time and again. Those refutations include a recently concluded investigation by state leaders in Georgia that found no support for the claims that Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss participated in fraud during their work on the 2020 election in the Fulton County area.
Finding this outrageous and dangerous is an understatement. On Jan 6 many officers nearly died, some pay the ultimate price for her delusional obsession with political violence her supporters. She is no longer flirting with violence. She is encouraging it…again. https://t.co/k67guOHgFo
— Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino (@SergeantAqGo) June 29, 2023
