AMERICAN SHIELD

A former U.S. Capitol Police officer recounts the events of January 6, 2021, in the context of his life as an immigrant.

Gonell, writes Jamie Raskin in the preface, is “Trump’s absolute opposite in nearly every respect.” The author lifted himself up from poverty, joined the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, put himself through college, and stood by the Constitution in the course of doing his job. Sadly, it’s hardly surprising that, “of the 265 elected Republicans in Congress, [Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger] were the only two who ever thanked me” for standing against the mob on that fateful day. Indeed, writes Gonell, the combat that he saw on January 6 was far more violent than anything he experienced in Iraq, and the damages he sustained required him to retire early, “one of the 20 percent of Capitol Police officers who wound up leaving as a direct result of the attacks.” As an up-close view of that combat, Gonell’s account both squares with and complements that of Michael Fanone’s Hold the Line and Harry Dunn’s Standing My Ground. It also resounds with the same righteous anger, for Gonell was one of the first officers to speak before Congress and to the public about the attempted coup. As he notes, bitterly, “Despite the courageous [January 6] Committee’s recommendation to prosecute Trump, as of this writing, not one person responsible for planning, instigating, or paying for January 6 has been arrested yet.” Legal matters are still unfolding, and one hopes that Gonell’s sacrifice will not have been in vain. Among the book’s many revelations is that the police were forbidden to use rifles against the “civil disturbances” and that well into the mêlée, senior officers remained certain that Black Lives Matter and Antifa were “our real enemies.”

A memorable account of a life of public service.