Capitol officer injured in riot says Republicans ‘avoid’ him in halls of Congress

‘Sometimes I run into them in the hallway, and they pretend not to see me’

US Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who was injured during Jan 6 Capitol riot has revealed that Republicans “avoid” him in the halls of Congress despite the fact that he protected them during the attack by Trump supporters.

Sgt Gonell appeared on MSNBC’sMorning Joe on Thursday to comment on the latest disclosures by the House Select Committee investigating the attack during its hearing on Tuesday.

The sergeant conveyed his anger at those who still minimise what took place on that day.

“You have a lot of the people we protected on that day downplaying what happened. Sometimes I run into them in the hallway, and they pretend not to see me,” Sgt Gonell said. “They avoid me or bolt to the right or the left or pretend to be doing something else … I don’t hold any grudges. I’m still going to be respectful to them, but they don’t want to talk to me.”

“Only [Illinois Republican] Adam Kinzinger and [Wyoming Republican] Liz Cheney have approached” Sgt Gonell to speak to him about his recovery from the riot, he said. The GOP House representatives are the only Republicans on the January 6 committee after the party boycotted the panel. Mr Kinzinger and Ms Cheney were invited to serve on the committee by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“It’s just disgraceful,” MSNBC host Willie Geist said as fellow host Mika Brzezinski could be heard calling the Republicans “cowards”.

“That’s coming from all the people protected, whether elected officials or not,” Sgt Gonell added. “You know, it is disheartening. I’m not saying that I need that from them, but that shows a lot from the people who claim that they support the police and back the blue and are pro-law and order.”

In June of 2021, just months after the riot, DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone spoke about an interaction he had with Georgia GOP congressman Andrew Clyde in an elevator.

“I was very cordial,” Mr Fanone told CNN.

He said he “extended my hand to shake his hand. He just stared at me. I asked if he was going to shake my hand, and he told me that he didn’t who know I was. So I introduced myself”.

“I said that I was Officer Michael Fanone. That I was a DC Metropolitan police officer who fought on 6 January to defend the Capitol and, as a result, I suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a heart attack after having been tased numerous times at the base of my skull, as well as being severely beaten,” he added at the time. “At that point, the congressman turned away from me.”

Mr Fanone said Mr Clyde “pulled out his cellphone and started thumbing through the apps”, seemingly attempting to record the meeting.

When the elevator doors opened, Mr Fanone said Mr Clyde “ran as quickly as he could, like a coward”.

In May last year, Mr Clyde compared the riot to a “normal tourist visit”.

“Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol, and walk through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures … If you didn’t know that TV footage was a video from January the sixth, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit,” Mr Clyde said.

But photos from the riot show him helping others to barricade a door to stop rioters from gaining entry.

He later claimed that the media “didn’t take what I said in context at all”.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for Mr Clyde said: “While AOC openly blames Capitol Police for the J6 riot and claims the very people who protect Members and staff daily provided ‘inside help’ to rioters, Congressman Clyde has a 30-year track record as a private citizen, businessman, and now Congressman, supporting the work of our brave men and women of law enforcement.”