Washington– Like Donald Trump It was opened for the second time On January 20, 2025, former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonel He put his phone on “do not disturb” mode and left it on his nightstand to take a break from the news.
That evening, after Jonelle spent some time with family and took his dog for a long walk, his phone started blowing up with calls. He had letters from federal prosecutors, FBI agents, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons—all telling him the new president had just arrived Amnesty for about 1,500 people Who were convicted for their actions at the Capitol January 6, 2021. The pardon included the rioters who injured Jonelle while he and other officers were trying to protect the building.
“They told me that the people I testified against were released from prison,” Gunnell said. “And to be informed.”
Jonil was one of the officers who Defend the west central front entrance of the Capitol On that day, while Congress was certifying the victory of Democrat Joe Biden and hundreds of Trump supporters He stormed the buildingEchoing his false claims about the election being stolen. Jonelle was dragged into the crowd by his shoulder straps as he tried to push people away. He almost choked. In court he is He testified about the injuries To his shoulder and foot, which still bother him to this day.
“They tried to erase what I did” with pardons and other attempts to downplay the violent attack, Gunnell said. “I lost my career and my health and I was trying to get my life back.”
Five years after the siege, Gunnell and some other police officers who fought the rioters are still coming to terms with what happened, especially after Trump was decisively elected to a second term last year and granted this pardon. Their struggle has been exacerbated by statements by the Republican president and some GOP lawmakers in Congress Reducing violence encountered by officers.
“It’s been a tough year,” said Officer Daniel Hodges, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was also wounded in action near Gunnell in a tunnel on the Western Front. Hodges was attacked several times, crushed between heavy doors by rioters and hit on the head as he screamed for help.
“A lot of things are getting worse,” Hodges said.
More than 140 police officers were injured during the fighting on January 6, which turned increasingly brutal over time.
Former Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger took over the department six months after the riot. He said in a recent interview that many of his officers were angry when he first arrived, not only because of the injuries they had suffered but also “they resented the fact that they They didn’t have the equipment they needed, the training they needed “To deal with the unexpectedly violent crowd.
Several officers who fought the rioters told the Associated Press that the hardest thing to deal with was the efforts made by so many Downplaying violencealthough A Huge amount of video and photographic evidence Documenting the massacre.
Trump has called the rioters he pardoned, including those who were the most violent toward police, “patriots” and “hostages.” He described their conviction for harming the officers and storming the building as a “grave national injustice.”
“I think it was a mistake,” Adam Eveland, a former police officer in the District of Columbia, said of Trump’s pardon. If there had been a pardon, Eveland said, the Trump administration should have reviewed every case.
“I had a hard time dealing with that,” said Eveland, who fought rioters and helped oust them from the Capitol.
The pardon “erases what little justice there was,” said former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingone, who was part of the force’s civil disturbance unit on Jan. 6. He left the police after several months.
Hodges and Jonnell have spoken publicly about their experiences since July 2021, when they were to attest before the Democratic-led House panel that investigated on January 6. Since then, they have received support but also backlash.
At a Republican-led Senate hearing in October on political violence, Hodges again testified as a witness called by Democrats. After Hodges spoke about his experience on Jan. 6, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, asked other witnesses whether they supported Trump’s pardon of rioters, including those who injured Hodges. Three witnesses called by Republicans raised their hands.
“I don’t know how you can say it wasn’t violent,” says Hodges, who is still a police officer in Washington.
It wasn’t just politicians or rioters who questioned the police. It is also friends and family.
“The biggest struggle I’ve had over the years has been the public perception of it,” Eveland said, navigating conversations with people close to him, including some fellow police officers, who didn’t think it was a big deal.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around this, but ideology is a very powerful thing,” he said.
As police officers struggled in the aftermath, Manger, the former Capitol Police chief, said the department should know how to better support them. He said there were no health or counseling services when he arrived, and they were put in place.
“The officers who were there and were in the fight — we needed to make sure they got the help they needed,” Manger said.
Manger, who retired in May, oversaw major improvements in the department’s training, equipment, operational planning and intelligence. He said the Capitol is now “much more secure” than it was when he arrived.
“If the exact same thing happened again, they would never have breached the building, they would never have gone inside, they would never have disrupted the vote count,” Manger said.
Bingone, the former Capitol Police officer, said he believes the department is “unrecognizable” in many ways from what it was on Jan. 6 and when he left several months later.
“It was a wake-up call,” he added.
Bingon, who was attacked and thrown to the ground while trying to prevent people from entering the Capitol, said Jan. 6 was part of the reason he left the department and moved to his home in Massachusetts. He coped with his experience by drawing pictures of the Capitol and his time there, as well as advocating nonviolence. He said he now feels ready to forgive.
“The real shock and heartache and everything I endured because of these events, I want to get over it,” he said.
Gunnell left Capitol Police from his injuries. He has not returned to duty, although he hopes to work again. He wrote a book about his experience and said he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the attack.
While many of the officers who were there remained silent about their experiences, Eveland said he decided it was important to speak publicly about Jan. 6 to try to reach people and “come at it from a logical standpoint.”
However, he said, “I had to accept the fact that just because something happened to me and was a big part of my world didn’t mean everyone had to understand it or even empathize with it.”
He added: “The only thing I can do is tell my story, and hope that people who respect me will listen to me in the end.”