Trump 2.0: Erase the coup

Commemorative bronze duplicates of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Jan. 6 police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol appear to have been removed for sale from the U.S. Mint’s website.

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In December 2022, the U.S. Capitol Police and DCMPD forces were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service on Jan. 6. Families of fallen officers accepted the medals during the ceremony too, including family members of late U.S. Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, both of whom died in the insurrection’s aftermath. Family members for D.C. Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide after the insurrection, also received the the coin in 2022.

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The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor that Congress can bestow. Former President Joe Biden signed the bill to give Jan. 6 first responders the medals in August 2021.

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The medal, which is sold as a bronze duplicate, depicted the Capitol on one side with “January 6th, 2021” etched into the bottom. On the other side of the coin, badges for both the U.S. Capitol Police force and the D.C. Metropolitan Police are depicted next to an American flag and words that read: “Honoring the service and sacrifice of those who protected the U.S. Capitol.”

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A link on the Mint’s website to purchase the coin was nonfunctional as of Friday morning.

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“As a way to show support for the police who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, Republicans at the U.S. Mint have removed the Congressional gold medal from the website to purchase. What a disgrace, disservice, desecration and betrayal to the sacrifices made by the officers who risked our lives from the violent mob of Trump supporters,” [former U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino] Gonell wrote.

Gonell, a military veteran who served a tour in Iraq, was brutally attacked by the mob on Jan. 6, 2021, and sustained major injuries to his foot and shoulder that forced him into an early retirement after a series of surgeries. He has been an outspoken critic of Trump and the Republican Party along with a handful of other officers, including former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, and former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.

He told HuffPost over email Friday: “At this point it would not be unsurprising if the Architect of the Capitol removed the gold medal from the Capitol visitor center.”

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Hodges reacted to the coin’s removal on X, tagging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in his message.

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Hodges was also assaulted mercilessly by rioters on Jan. 6, 2021. He was pepper sprayed, struck in his head, punched and kicked. One rioter tried to dig Hodges’ eye out of its socket and, at another point, Hodges was nearly crushed to death in a doorway as the mob tried to force their way past police who were already squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder in a tunnel entryway.

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“The @usmint and @SecScottBessent removed the ability to purchase duplicates of the Congressional Medal awarded to my colleagues and I for our work during the insurrection. I’d love to know why. I mean, I already know why, but I’d love to hear you say it,” Hodges wrote.

On Friday, the officer also shared an email he received from a U.S. Mint support email address with HuffPost. After asking why the coin was no longer available and who ordered its removal, he received a response back saying “the product you requested is no longer available.”

“Periodically, we conduct a comprehensive review of our numismatic product portfolio to focus on those products with the broadest appeal to collectors and other customers. This allows the United States Mint to focus limited resources on its most popular products,” the email states before suggesting that the coin might be found on a “secondary market from private coin dealers or other companies.”

  HuffPo

Disgraceful.