January 6 police dismiss Trump's newfound zeal to tackle violence in DC

Source: The Guardian

Sat 16 Aug 2025 08.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 16 Aug 2025 08.01 EDT


As rioters beat and crushed him in a Capitol building tunnel on January 6, officer Aquilino Gonell kept thinking to himself: “Where the fuck is the president? Why is the national guard not being deployed?”

The bipartisan congressional committee that investigated the attack would later conclude that Donald Trump never ordered in the guard, which only arrived at the Capitol hours after the riot began, by the directive of the defense department. This week, the president showed far less hesitation to send national guard troops and federal agents on to the streets of Washington DC to respond to an “out of control” crime wave that city leaders say is not actually happening.

To the former police officers who suffered serious injuries at the hands of Trump’s supporters on January 6, the intervention is both outrageous and misguided. In interviews with the Guardian, several expressed doubts about the troops’ and agents’ effectiveness given the many societal forces that contribute to crime in Washington DC, and they voiced concern that the deployment is a harbinger of more authoritarian moves to come.

“He did not think that overrunning the capital and attacking hundreds of police officers by his supporters would justify authorizing the national guard,” said Gonell, who retired from the Capitol police force in 2022 after suffering injuries to his foot and shoulder from his battle with mob. “Whenever he says he’s all for law and order, I have a bridge to sell you.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/16/trump-jan-6-police-washington-dc