The hosts of “Morning Joe” were disgusted Thursday morning after a Capitol police officer who was injured during the Jan. 6 insurrection revealed that most of the Republican lawmakers he protected that day avoid interacting with him.
During his appearance on the show, Aquilino Gonell recounted his experience from the historic day, telling the hosts he spent “almost five hours” fighting rioters as they stormed the Capitol. He added that it’s still hard to process what happened despite a good recovery process – particularly when all but two Republicans ignore him now.
“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,” Gonell said. “They avoid me or bolt to the right or to the left or pretend to be doing something else.”
Gonell noted that he doesn’t ever plan to be “confrontational” or call out the lawmakers, “but they don’t want to talk to me.” He added that, among the Republican party, only Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney have reached out to him at any point in the year and a half since.
“It’s just disgraceful cowardice,” host Willie Geist responded. “I’m so sorry about that.”
Gonell admitted that although “it is disheartening,” he still plans to do his job to protect and serve all those on Capitol Hill to the best of his ability and for as long as he is able.
“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,” he said.
Watch a portion of the interview in the “Morning Joe” clip above.
