The Justice Department is informing US Capitol Police officers who testified in court during the trials of some of the January 6 attackers that the defendants they helped convict are being released from prison. This notification comes after former US Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell shared screenshots on social media of phone calls and emails he received from the Justice Department following President Donald Trump's mass clemency for January 6 defendants.
Gonell, who endured multiple assaults during the January 6 insurrection, including a particularly violent confrontation in a tunnel leading to the Capitol, highlighted the routine practice of the Justice Department to notify trial witnesses or victims who spoke at sentencing when the individuals they helped incarcerate are released from prison.
