Officers who defended the Capitol fight falsehoods about Jan. 6 and campaign for Biden

Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, is interviewed near the Supreme Court this month after conservative justices’ decision on immunity for ex-President Trump. Gonell struggled when he heard that former President Trump visited Capitol Hill last month and received what he called a “hero’s welcome” from the Republican lawmakers Gonell had protected that day, and when Trump falsely told millions of viewers in last week’s debate that many of the violent rioters, his supporters, “were ushered in by the police.” Trump’s Capitol Hill visit was a “triggering mechanism for my PTSD,” says Gonell, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. His deranged, self-centered, obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted my coworkers and I.” The officers have also aggressively pushed back on Trump’s comments at the debate, where he falsely said that there were a “relatively small” group of protesters and that the police let them enter the Capitol. Dunn, who recently lost his bid for a congressional seat in Maryland, said after the debate that Trump’s comments were “a slap in the face, but it’s what we have come to expect from Donald Trump.” The officers said they are still supporting Biden, even after he failed to push back on many of Trump’s false claims about Jan. 6 and received widespread criticism for a weak showing at the debate.