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Don Lemon Tonight
Sen. Joe Manchin Going a Different Route on Voting Rights; Sen. Krysten Sinema Says Filibuster Must Remain; Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell Speaking Out; Police Officers Reliving the Hell of January 6; Mic Cut Off as Veteran Speaks About Slavery. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired June 03, 2021 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: But the question is, does what he believes the Senate is about still exist in reality?
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Yes.
CUOMO: I mean, he's certainly -- I don't know what he is hearing from Republican senators. He's got Murkowski who signed on Joe Lewis, the John Lewis Act, but you're not getting people to work together like it used to.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: He has to know that. But he is not wrong to want it.
LEMON: OK. So, I'm going to half disagree with you. I think you're right about whether that Senate or even the Congress, whether that exists anymore. It does not. I think he is wrong. I think bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship is empty. When you look at --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Explain that.
LEMON: Because -- because he wants -- he wants bipartisanship just because. You have to look at what is on the line, which is the way I'm going start my show, by the way. So, I'm just going to say it now. This is some serious sh -- stuff. This is serious.
Voting rights, you don't get any more serious than that. So, you got voting rights and you got bipartisanship. Voting rights. Bipartisanship has always been an issue. Everyone has always said we can be more bipartisan. We can do this. We can do that.
The filibuster was not started, contrary -- again, I'm giving away my open -- contrary to what Krysten Sinema says, it was not created for comity. It was created by mistake. It has not been a -- the font of comity and bipartisanship in the Senate. That is a complete misrepresentation and a complete misunderstanding of the history of the filibuster in the Senate. And the filibuster has been used to vote down civil rights
legislation, anti-lynching legislation, and so on. More than once, more than twice, more than three times that is a history of the filibuster. So, they are both wrong about the filibuster, and wrong for saying this is the way. Yes, it's the way it should be. But it's not the way it is.
CUOMO: All right.
LEMON: It should be that I can eat like I did tonight 3,000 calories and not gain weight. But that's not the reality.
CUOMO: My take on it is this. Your high ground is on what is at stake and what the current state of play is. I think that the history of the filibuster is easily recognizable for people. It had different periods before and after it was used to motivate racist resolve. And you're absolutely right about that. Period.
When you hold up your right hand and say voting rights, it's not just voting rights. It's voting rights and the rights of Republican states to overturn --
LEMON: Yes, yes.
CUOMO: -- elections that they don't like. So, it's not just curtailing the availability of, you know, disproportionately minority people to go and vote.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: But if you still manage to go out and do it any way, they have laws in place to be able to overturn.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: That, to me, is more dangerous than the curtailment of how long and how often. Both are a problem. But the ability to overturn. So that versus empty bipartisanship, of course it's going to lose.
LEMON: Don't hide behind the filibuster because you need to appease voters. Just do what is right. And everyone knows what is right. They know what is right. But again, they got to have something to sell to the folks back home. The folks back home who believe that the election was that there is election fraud and that there is this and the Democrats are the worst.
CUOMO: You think those people are going to vote for Manchin anyway?
LEMON: Sure, if he stands up against the mean Democrats, of course. That's what -- it's about only a month --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: But I don't think, he doesn't present himself like that. I mean, January 6th, he jumped all over McConnell and asking for a personal favor and -- (CROSSTALK)
LEMON: People aren't always who they present themselves to be in public.
I got to run.
CUOMO: Boy, you just can't be anything but --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I can't -- I cannot -- I can't. No, it's not that I can't be anything but right.
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: I can't be -- I can't do anything but see the reality to see people for who they are, especially in this moment. Especially for someone like me. Voting rights to me, that's huge, man.
CUOMO: And the right --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You're talking about --
CUOMO: -- to cancel an election --
LEMON: -- an election.
CUOMO: -- if you don't like the result of.
LEMON: Because --
CUOMO: That is a scary thought.
LEMON: -- for someone who sat around and listened to my grandmother, my grandmother and my mother tell me tales of how my mother would take my grandmother to the polls, or my grandmother would tell me how she would go to the polls. And they would make her, you know, the bubbles in the jar.
These are all true stories. These are all things that happened. Poll taxes. So, if you're going to tell me that's on the line and you're going to say, well we can't change the rules because we have to be bipartisan, what does that mean? That means nothing to people like me. So, if you want that to be your legacy, then go for it. Go for it.
CUOMO: The only thing to worry about is what happens next. But I have to tell you, I agree with you about the exigencies of the moment, but it will have consequences. And I don't it's over yet in terms of how this plays out.
D. Lemon, make your witness. I love you.
LEMON: I love you, too. I'll see you soon. This is Don Lemon Tonight.
So, let's get into this. My question tonight is -- it's a simple one, but it is crucial if America is going to move forward.
[22:05:02]
How do we negotiate with this Republican Party? How do we? Can you? Everything that the current legitimately elected president of the United States, Joe Biden, everything he is trying to get done depends on the answer to that question. Every single thing, voting rights, serious stuff. Infrastructure, that's serious as well.
Nothing is going to happen if Senate Republicans continue to obstruct like they did when they wouldn't even allow debate on the commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at Capitol Hill. That madness that happened on January 6 can't be investigated. Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. January 6, no!
And more and more Democrats are facing the hard truth that the only way that they're going to get anything done with a minority party that refuses to take bipartisanship seriously in a Senate that is essentially a bastion of minority rule, the only way to get anything done might be to blow up the filibuster, OK.
Let's just be honest. Let's just be honest and tell the truth about what is happening in this country. Don't hide behind the filibuster. Say what you got to say, brothers and sisters, or brother and sister. Do it. If you're going to do it, then say, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do this because I think that Black and Brown people's vote should be restricted in the future to come in America. Just say it. Don't hide behind the filibuster.
Two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin, Krysten Sinema are standing in the way of that.
CNN's Manu Raju asking Manchin tonight if he'd agreed to a card vow on voting rights. Spoiler alert, he won't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're also just in the center of so many issues in Washington.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I understand.
RAJU: And your -- one of the issues is you're working on trying to get a voting rights bill passed with Lisa Murkowski. Your work --
MANCHIN: Let me say this.
RAJU: Just let me finish the question. There is no sign that there is actually going to be 60 votes to get that done. Some of your Democratic colleagues say Joe Manchin should agree for an exemption. Allow voting rights to pass on a simple majority, change the Senate's filibuster rules and do that. Would you be open to that? MANCHIN: I asked everybody how well did the 2013 nuclear option work
when in 2017 they came back and took the Supreme Court? That's all. What goes around, goes around. So, let's work together. Let's find a pathway forward.
RAJU: So, you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What goes around, comes around. Yes, look at voting deals, it's not a big deal. It will all work out. Come on, brother. And then there is Sinema, who would have you believe the filibuster encourages bipartisanship, despite all the evidence of the contrary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KRYSTEN SINEMA (D-AZ): The idea of the filibuster was created by those who came before us in the United States Senate to create comity and to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together. And while there are some who don't believe that bipartisanship is possible, I think that I'm a daily example that bipartisanship is possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: None that of is true. It would be great if Republicans and Democrats could agree on the issues that are most important to this country.
President Biden ran on bipartisanship, but he's got a major obstacle to that. His name is Mitch McConnell, and he has made it his mission to block and obstruct any efforts by Democratic presidents. And he wields the Republicans' favorite weapon, and that is the filibuster. Ok.
So, let's go through the history of the filibuster, just so you know, audience, American people, Manchin, Sinema. The filibuster has a long disgraceful history of being abused to block civil rights and voting rights bills. Michael Higginbotham told you about that just a few months ago on this very show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL HIGGINBOTHAM, PROFESSOR OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF LAW: The history of it in our country, the Senate filibuster is that it has been used to racially oppress. Eighteen-forty-six, it prevented anti-slavery provision in a treaty. Nineteen-twenty-two, it prevented anti-lynching legislation. Nineteen fifty-seven, as Dr. West mentioned, it prevented desegregation legislation of schools.
So, it's part of our history, but it needs to be eliminated now because if we don't eliminate it, we're going to have the same kind of white supremacist legislators in the minority preventing a majority of legislation from getting passed. Legislation that 60 percent of the people want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That is the truth about the filibuster. More truth. In the 1840s, before it was even called a filibuster, Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina used it to preserve slavery.
In 1922, an anti-lynching bill was defeated by a filibuster led by southern Democrats. In 1957, Senator Strom Thurmond took to the floor to filibuster the Civil Rights Act. Speaking for a record 24 hours and 18 minutes. In 1864, the longest filibuster in Senate history, 60 days. Almost derailed, almost derailed the landmark Civil Rights Act.
[2:10:02]
Nineteen sixty-three, Jesse Helms finally dropped his filibuster attempting to block the bill declaring Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a federal holiday. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the filibuster. Is it the side of history that you want to be on? Is it really worth more than voting rights for millions of Americans?
Let's remember what the former President Barack Obama said about that at the funeral of John Lewis when he called the filibuster a Jim Crow relic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I want you to remember what Valerie Jarrett told me just a few months ago when she said getting rid of the filibuster is a small price to pay to protect voting rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE JARRETT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: I watch for eight years how Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans tried to block every single measure we put forward that would have been helpful to the American people. And so when you have that kind of recalcitrant abstinent Senate, with Senate Republicans, you put us in a position where is no other choice.
So, I think clear eyed the members of the Senate ought to think about what's best for our country, what strengthens our democracy and then push that forward. If that means if we have to get rid of the filibuster to do so, that's a small price to pay to enfranchise millions and millions of Americans who will be disenfranchised if these bills around the country pass and become law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I think everyone, just about everyone believes in bipartisanship, right? That's like a, that's the ideal. I believe in bipartisanship. But not lip service. Not lip service too when it's dead and buried in Washington under Mitch McConnell, who has been the king of obstruction.
The fundamental right to vote. Voting rights are at stake here. Democracy is at stake. People fought and died and still do fight and die for this country to preserve those values. So, it is time for choosing right now. What will Democrats choose?
And while President Joe Biden has issues with his own party, the former guy still has his party in a death grip, a party too afraid to cross a disgraced former president who is more obsessed than ever with his big lie of nonexistent election fraud.
This is -- I'm going to say this, and then I'll talk more about it. A well-placed source telling CNN that Trump has been listening to right- wingers like the My Pillow guy, asking advisers if he could somehow get back in the White House this year. Going on he continues to hold on to hope that he would return to power saying, quote, "it's very dangerous." And if you need more evidence of the Trump death grip on the GOP, there is Mike Pence tonight. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office, and I don't know if we'll ever see eye to eye on that day. But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Come on. Sorry. Not really. People yell at me on the street about things, but I don't talk about it on the news. So, Trump is sitting in Mar-a-Lago droning on about whether he is going to -- who cares? Who cares? Who cares! And Mike Pence. They don't see eye to eye what happened on January 6.
Mike Pence surely could have said a lot about that while he was still the vice president of the United States, couldn't he? After he was chased out of the capitol. We'll never see eye to eye. January 6, that was the day Trump supporters put up a gallows outside of the capitol and chanted hang Mike Pence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Mike Pence could have died that day, and he is still talking. Whatever. The then president who incited the election who slammed his own vice president for failing to stop the certification of the vote did nothing to help him. But he's still proud of what they accomplished. [22:15:07]
Mike Pence, still proud of what they accomplished. OK. Do you believe that? This is a party, GOP -- well, it should be POT party of Trump, that refuse to take a stand to investigate what happened on January 6 when those bloodthirsty rioters stormed the capitol hunting for those same lawmakers, beating police officers to within an inch of their lives.
Last night you heard me talk with one of those officers, a man that I've gotten to know, who has become a real friend, Officer Mike Fanone. He told me about how he felt about Republicans who even after he and the mother of fallen Officer Brian Sicknick went to the capitol, talked to them face-to-face. They still blocked the commission after Mitch McConnell asked them to do it as a personal favor to him. He called them disgraceful.
Mike Fanone is a truth teller. And tonight, I'm going talk to another truth teller, another American hero, Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell. He says that rioters beat him with the American flag, the flag he swore to defend here and in the army reserve in Iraq. He'll be here in just one minute so you want to stay tune. But first, this is more of what he says about that terrible day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: What was the worst thing they called you?
AQUILINO GONELL, UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE: Traitor.
UNKNOWN: Why was that the worst thing?
GONELL: Because I served my country. I went overseas to protect our homeland from foreign threats. But yet here I am battling them in our own capital.
UNKNOWN: United States Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell emigrated from the Dominican Republican to the U.S. at 12 years old in 1991. Deployed to Iraq in 2003, and then joined Capitol Police in 2008. He is speaking publicly for the first time about January 6 when he fought rioters trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidency.
GONELL: I got hurt. I got hurt. I would do it again if I have to. It's my job.
UNKNOWN: Sergeant Gonell led members of the department's civil disturbance unit. For hours they battled insurrectionists attacking the capitol. This video shows his fight on the west front.
GONELL: They kept saying "Trump send me, we won't listen to you, we are here to take over the capitol, we're here to hang Mike Pence." They thought we were there for them, and we weren't. So, they turned against us. It was very scary. Because I -- I thought I was going to lose my life right there.
UNKNOWN: Some of the most horrific video shows Sergeant Gonell steps from Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges caught in a doorway.
GONELL: I could hear my fellow officers screaming, the agony in some of them. All I could think was we can't let these people in. There is going to be a slaughter inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Sergeant Gonell came forward on his own. Not to speak for the department. He said he couldn't stay silent anymore about what happened on January 6. And here he is live this evening. I'm going to talk to him after the break.
[22:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, the Senate killed a commission that would have investigated what happened on January 6, really betraying the officers, American heroes who fought to defend the capitol on that day.
One of them joins me now, Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell. He is speaking on his own behalf, not representative. He is not speaking as a representative of the police department.
And sergeant, I'm so happy that you're here. America is happy for your -- America is really grateful I should say for your sacrifice and what you do. We want to hear your story. So as much of it as you can tell us that you're comfortable sharing, we would love to hear it. So again, thank you for appearing. OK?
GONELL: Thank you for having me.
LEMON: It takes a lot of courage to come forward and talk about what happened on January 6. How you doing?
GONELL: Some days better than others. Last week was very rough, emotional, emotionally, but getting the help that I need. I have a lot of support, piece of support, what not. And my family most of all, they have been very understanding of my situation and everything that happened to me and to many officers that responded to the insurrection and the people who -- you have people that, officers that left in the morning that day and decided on their own to come back to fight off these terrorists and individuals that were there to kill people.
They were not there on a tour as a lot of people are -- anyone or anyone that keeps saying that it was a regular tour. This was not a concert that you come and do whatever break, threats, people, what not, and then go home as if nothing happened. People get hurt. People got injured. I got hurt. I got injured.
Threats were made against the officers, against their family, against the members, against the president, against -- I'm sorry, against the vice president and against the speaker.
[22:25:03] And for them to whitewash this like I'm making it up like somebody told me that, this is Black Lives Matter or antifa. There was no antifa there. All the people, the sea of people that were there, they were saying President Trump send me here. He's our president. He sent us here, and we won't listen to anything that you say that day.
LEMON: Are you -- so earlier, I don't mean to interrupt, a couple of things. Are you -- were you always this serious before the insurrection?
GONELL: What do you mean? Like in my personality?
LEMON: It just, your person, it looks like there is a weight.
GONELL: Most of the time I am in my character. I don't mean to come out that way, but I am fun with certain people, not with everybody. But I do take my job seriously.
LEMON: No, it's OK. It's not -- listen, it's not a judgment. It's just an observation. And considering what you've gone through, anyone would certainly understand that there is aspect --
(CROSSTALK)
GONELL: Now, it just --
LEMON: -- a serious aspect to your existence, to your experience.
GONELL: It's just that I don't like when people try to take advantage of other people. We are not pawn. We have family. We have kids. We have loved ones that are waiting for us to go back home at the end of the day.
When you -- the moment, the thing that got me to come forward, it was seeing Officer Sicknick's family right next to Officer Fanone and Dunn, Harry the other day, which to me, I didn't realize that he has been standing alone for a long time on this issue, and I was focused on my recovery, what not.
But the moment that got me was when I saw his family, Officer Sicknick's family, my condolence to his family, what not. I'm sorry I was not be able to attend his funeral service, what not. I was focused on my recovery, but when I saw his family, I saw my family, my wife, my mom right next to it.
For them to pretty much pleading them and begging them to do the right thing, to have the courage to do that. I raised my hand three times already to defend the Constitution of this country, the United States, and I was not even born here. And for them to had the courage to not do the right thing, to not put their lives on the line like we did that day, we did that. I sweat, I blood, I bleed my blood here in country and overseas.
LEMON: Let me tell people about your journey. Because you served this country as a soldier in Iraq. You swore an oath to protect the country from all enemies foreign and domestic. GONELL: That's right.
LEMON: And now you have, you know -- you have Republican lawmakers refusing to investigate what happened. Is that -- do you feel betrayed? Or is that a slap in the -- how do you feel about that? I don't want to put words in your mouth.
GONELL: I feel insulted. I feel like they don't have the courage. They demand something from us that they're not willing to do, which is sacrifice their livelihood, to sacrifice -- I don't mean -- I mean, anyone who says that this didn't happen and not taking sides on whether Republican Democrat, or independent, or what not.
I'm saying opposite about the investigation wouldn't -- if I go to your house and bring a whole bunch of people, tell a whole bunch of people to, a, let's go to Lemon's house and break everything and threaten your wife, threaten your kids, threaten whatever. Whoever is there, and then leave everything damaged, what not, wouldn't you want to know who did this and who coordinated this?
LEMON: And why.
GONELL: Because that's exactly the same thing that happened in our capitol. I work there. I take that job very seriously. And even though there are things that I don't agree in terms of policies or political stands, what not, I'm not interested in that.
[22:29:56]
When we respond to a call, we don't ask the person who need the help, hey, are you Republican, Democrat, independent? We just respond and do our job to the best we can with the best -- with the tools we have. So, when people denied that this happened, it's insulting. It's a betrayal.
You got the people calling me from overseas, my friends and family responded, asking me whether I was OK or what was happening in the capitol. They were more concerned I think than the president himself that day.
LEMON: Let me ask you.
GONELL: Because --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I hate to cut you off, because I am riveted listening to you, and I could seat here and seriously and listen to you for the two hours. I'm going to go a little bit long, producers. If you can find anywhere in the show, please, please, please. If not, let me know.
So, let me ask you a couple things. Because I had Officer Dunn and Officer Fanone on before. I asked if they were OK with the video. I would love to play some of the video. Does it -- when you see that video, does it trigger you in a way? Are you OK with it?
GONELL: I'll be OK.
LEMON: OK.
GONELL: It's very emotional because I've seen these videos so many times. And for a lot of people, people who are in opposition to find out what happened, they only lived that day. They only lived it for three, four, maybe five, six hours, what not.
LEMON: The reason --
(CROSSTALK)
GONELL: I had to live it every single day when the FBI or the Justice Department is calling me to find out, hey, do you recognize this officer? Hey, do you -- is this you? Is this the person who assaulted you? It's very, very emotional. And there are things that I had not seen myself or don't remember, me, those things happening to me. But they are caught on camera. And hey, sergeant, is this you? It looks like you. It is you.
LEMON: Every day since January 6 you have to either talk to law enforcement or relive this.
GONELL: Most of the time, yes.
LEMON: So, the reason I ask, especially because I want people know about your injuries. Your hand was sliced open. Your knuckles were bleeding as you held the doors. Your foot needed surgery.
GONELL: My shoulder as well.
LEMON: Your shoulder as well. And some of the things that are up now. But as I heard from the other officers, the wounds go beyond physical. Now you said that you felt guilty in a way that you weren't able to be there or speak out for Officer Sicknick and the other officers who you feel that they were standing alone like Fanone and Dunn. But quite understandably, because you were taking care of yourself, and you had to. Do you -- are you getting the support that you need, sergeant?
GONELL: Yes. I have a lot of support from my family. Many of my friends, they reach out to me once in a while. I have coworkers who had reach out to me consistently. Professionally, I had sought help and had been helpful a lot. And like I said, ups and downs, watching some of the things and changes, especially the death of my colleague.
LEMON: Brian Sicknick.
GONELL: Evans and Sicknick and Liebengood. Some of them I didn't know well, but I knew the names. They work under my command or as an officer when we were officers, we worked together sometimes, capacity, what not.
LEMON: What do you -- what do you want to say to America? Because there are a lot of people in America who believe we should move on from January 6. There should not be a commission. You see the -- you see the reports. You see the lawmakers on Capitol Hill thinking the same thing. What do you want to say, sergeant?
GONELL: What I want them to know is that could have been my family. And I saw myself the day I had decided to come forward. I have many and multiple incident or moments that I could have lost my life or have taken other people's life because they continue to believe this lie that somehow people that are not living body that it was cheated, what not.
[22:35:03]
But when you have this personality and someone who helped a party, lost the House, lost the Senate, and lost the presidency, and for them to continue being on the side and taking -- choosing sides for or sticking up to this individual who he continued to shield himself under his wealth and lawyers because he had not sacrificed anything.
So, let me correct that. The only thing that he had sacrificed is the country. We are the laughingstock of a lot of countries because when I signed on to the context that we were sent overseas, it was to establish democracy, what not. And I believed that. I know I made a difference at that time.
But when we go to other countries and preach to them about democracy, but yet we cannot do it right here. And if this attack in the capitol is not a matter of national security, then what is?
LEMON: Hold that thought, sergeant. Because I found more time. And I want to continue to speak with you. And I'm so glad that you're being candid and that you're being open. So, we're going the take a break.
We're going to come back with Sergeant Gonell who is telling us about his experience, what he is living through, and what he thinks about what's going on in the country right now, especially as it relates to January 6. Back in a moment.
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. So, we're back now with Capitol Police Officer -- Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell. Sergeant, thank you.
I've been -- I want to talk to you because I listened to your report earlier about -- about the night that you came home after the insurrection and how you finally told your wife and your interaction with your son.
But let me ask you this. You were 12 years old when you came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. Your son is now nine years old, around that age. Are you worried that the America your son is growing up isn't the same country that you came to as a child?
GONELL: It has been difficult, especially the past four or five years, what not, when you have people making restriction or making it harder for immigrants to come here, what not. But I say completely political issue. They're not too familiar, but I know it affect me because when I was growing up, my dad was here working as a taxi driver in New York, what not. We did have this yearn to reach the American dream that when we get to America, things will get better for us financially and education and what not. And it did. My parents, they made great sacrifices, what not, to make that possible. And as a result --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And look at you now.
GONELL: As a result of that --
LEMON: Look at you now. Look at you now. You are -- listen, you fought for this country. You are the American success story. You protect our capitol every single day. I was smiling as you were speaking not because of what you -- in part because of what you were saying, but because of the pictures of your beautiful family were up, your son and your wife. With the army hat on, by the way.
So, the night -- you said that the night that you -- I'll just tell that the night that it happened, you texted your wife. You said I'm coming home finally. You didn't even want to hug her because you had pepper spray on you and you wanted to wash it off. And then you did that, you went into your son's room and you hugged him for 10 minutes.
GONELL: About that. It was a long day from the beginning. I left my house like around 4.30, if I remember correctly, what not. And when this happened, when things took emotion, when I saw that happening, I didn't even get a chance to say hey, I'll be busy. I don't know what time I'm going to be, what not.
But she kept sending me messages, voice messages, text messages. And meanwhile, I'm fighting for my life. Inside that tunnel, there were terrorists. There were multiple, multiple incidents, times that I found myself thinking I'm going to kill somebody today or they're going to kill me. When they were dragging me towards the crowd, when I couldn't breathe because we were pushing against each other.
We were getting trampled, especially when the people in the front who has -- the very few people who have valiantly held on to the shields that they were not taken from the -- by the crowd, we were the front line that day. And --
LEMON: Well, sergeant --
GONELL: Yes?
LEMON: Sergeant, you're a hero. You are an American hero. And I thank you so much.
[22:44:53]
GONELL: I do want to -- before we go, I do want to say one more thing. Thank you for everyone that did show up that day, metropolitan police, they were great because we were getting really losing ground when they did finally show up. And all the other agencies that day came to assist that day. For those people who continue to say and propagate this lie, what
that, that it was somebody else, that it was another group, come talk to me. I want to talk to them. I have video proof that what happened there was not a concert. It was not Fourth of July. I work those events and nobody beat me or anybody else.
But I do thank those who came to the capitol police building, I mean, to the capitol and assist us with securing the building, even though now we feel betrayed. We feel insulted because the very -- to the very minimum that everybody should agree is how to prevent this from happening again.
LEMON: I agree. I agree.
GONELL: Many of the officers that I talk to, they have the same concerns. I can say names, but we do have the same concern. At the end of the day, we want to go home to our family. And we feel that right now we are being a pawn. It is insulting. It's disgusting, and we put our lives to give them the chance to run away to safety.
I almost lost my life many multiple times. At the bottom lowest stairs, at the top, and inside the tunnel. And it was now until 3 a.m. that day, the following day that I got home. I was even unable to hug my wife until I took three baths and still my skin was burning.
I slept three hours that morning before I went back to the capitol, because out of the sense of duty, out of the sense of something that I needed to do to continue protecting that building, continue to be there for my officers, whether they liked it or not. I did show up.
I continued to work almost two more weeks before I sought medical treatment for myself until I couldn't no more. And for those people who continue to propagate this lie, your champion is not a champion. Stop this lie. People continue to propagate this lie and to tell you the truth, words have meaning.
When the president tweeted this or that and they continued to say well, he doesn't mean that. Well, this is not what he meant to say, that take his word for it, or his tweet speak for itself. Well, he was just joking. OK, how are these people who are deranged that listen to every single thing that he commands, if he tells them the sky is blue and there's a storm outside, they believe that crap?
I mean when, when is it going to stop? Is it going to take your own family to be murdered by these people? This time it's against this president. Next time it might be you. It might be somebody else.
LEMON: Yes.
GONELL: But it shouldn't have -- it shouldn't take this. I completely honestly felt that this wouldn't happen here. And not even during my time in Iraq I would not -- I didn't think that this was going to happen here in the United States cap -- of the United States of America.
LEMON: Well, sergeant, I hope that they listen to you. Unfortunately, though, I have to go. But I want to have you back, and I want to have you back, and I want to continue to talk to you. And can I tell you how grateful I am --
GONELL: Yes.
LEMON: -- that you came on to speak.
GONELL: And like I said, anyone want to speak to me, senator, congressman, whoever it is, that want my account, I have pictures. I have video of myself.
[22:50:03]
Whatever you want to do, talk to me. Because I'm going to tell you who was there. And what I did to help you escape that building when the people were looking. They were not looking for Democrat or Republican. They were just there to kill people. And the truth is people need to talk about cancel culture when you're trying to cancel this event which should be a matter of national security. This happened and you want to erase it like it never happened. Like it was couldn't concert. It is not.
LEMON: Well, sergeant, thank you.
GONELL: And thank you. I'm sorry, I'm just venting.
LEMON: No, no, no. Don't apologize. Don't apologize. That's why you're here. I do have to go though. But that's why you're here. We've gone for like 30 minutes because I want people to hear you and I'm just so happy that you're here. I hope this is cathartic in some way and that this helps, not just with you but with the entire situation.
So, again, I thank you. A true American hero. And we'll be right back, everyone.
[22:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, take this, everyone. While giving a speech at an Ohio Day ceremony, an army veteran had his microphone cut for talking about history. Yes, the mic was cut when 77-year-old former Lieutenant Colonel Barnard Kemter started to talk about the role free Black enslaved people had in establishing the holiday. I want to you listen when he started talking about that very history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARNARD KEMTER, RETIRED U.S. ARMY VETERAN: Yale historian David Blight asserting the holiday was rooted in a moving ceremony, was conducted by freed slaves on May 1st, 1865 at the tattered remains of a confederate prison of war camp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, he continued to talk about how Black people in this country honored the dead after the Civil War and that's when the audio went out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEMTER: They were carrying armfuls of flowers and went to decorate the graves. Interesting that there would be a tie back to Hudson with that song, the John Brown.
Most importantly, whether Charleston's Decoration Day was the first, is attended by Charleston's black community --
UNKNOWN: Mic.
KEMTER: A.J. Mic?
We'll continue on. This is why you moved in closer. So, you could hear this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Kemter kept going. But here's the thing. Event organizers said they turned off the sound during that part of the speech on purpose. Going on the record with the Akron Beacon Journal, the chair of the Memorial Day parade committee says organizers wanted that part excluded because it, quote, "was not relevant to our program for the day."
Now, the American Legion of Ohio is investigating. What happened? Since the local chapter put on the event. We're going to -- we want you to stay tuned to this for what they find, OK? But I bet they'll figure out that the veteran's mic should not have been turned off and that it's important for us to know our history.
Up next, Mike Pence speaking tonight about the insurrection and his relationship with the former president. George Conway reacts after this.
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