Giving his testimony at the first hearing for the commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol this Tuesday, Capitol Police Officer Aquinilo Gonell slammed former President Donald Trump’s claims that the rioters were a “loving crowd,” calling the comments “pathetic.”
Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney asked Gonell what he thought about Trump’s claim that there was “a lot of love” emanating from the mob that day.
“When you think about that and share with us the vivid memory of the cruelty and the violence of the assault that day and then you hear former President Trump say, quote, ‘It was a loving crowd. There was a lot of love in the crowd,’ How does that make you feel?” Cheney asked.
“It’s upsetting,” Gonell replied. “It’s a pathetic excuse for his behavior, for something that he himself helped to create, this monstrosity.”
“I’m still recovering from those hugs and kisses that day,” he continued. “If that was hugs and kisses, then we should all go to his house and do the same thing to him. To me, it’s insulting, it’s demoralizing because everything that we did was to prevent everyone in the Capitol from getting hurt. And what he was doing instead of sending the military, instead of sending the support, or telling his people, his supporters to stop this nonsense, he egged them to continue fighting.”
Watch excerpts of his testimony below:
Cheney asks Sgt. Gonell how he feels when he hears Trump describe the mob as a "loving crowd." He says it's "upsetting" and that "it's a pathetic excuse for his behavior, for something that he himself helped create … I'm still recovering from those 'hugs and kisses' that day" pic.twitter.com/cnK1s826CE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 27, 2021
