'Joe is desperate': Biden campaign slammed for using Capitol riots cops to expose Trump's threat to democracy

WASHINGTON, DC: The Joe Biden reelection campaign has tapped three Capitol Police officers who witnessed the January 6, 2021, insurrection to stump for the President across crucial battleground states.

Sgt Aquilino Gonell, Officer Harry Dunn, and Officer Danny Hodges, all present during the Capitol riot, are set to crisscross key swing states, sharing their harrowing experiences and denouncing former President Donald Trump's alleged assault on democracy.

Capitol police officers speak out against Trump's threat to democracy

Dunn, Gonell, and Hodges, hailed as heroes for their actions during the Capitol attack, plan to underscore the peril they believe Trump poses to American democracy and fundamental rights.

Dunn and Gonell were injured during the Capitol attack and have subsequently retired from the Capitol Police force. Hodges, on the other hand, remains in active service with the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

“We were the victims, we lived through it,” Dunn, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for Congress. “If I can tell that story a million times, I will. If I can do that, I’ll just be doing my part to save democracy,” reported CNN.

Surrogates to tour battleground states ahead of Biden-Trump debate

The initiative will entail the surrogates journeying to Nevada and Arizona this week, followed by Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Hampshire in subsequent weeks. The campaign anticipates emphasizing the firsthand, democracy-threat narrative leading up to the inaugural debate between Joe Biden and Trump on June 27, hosted by CNN.

Some elements of this communication strategy have already been trialed. In a recent fundraising email to Biden supporters, Gonell recounted sustaining severe injuries, including being "trampled in a tunnel," and expressed his commitment to continue advocating for America post-service. "That includes doing everything I can to make sure Donald Trump – the man who calls the January 6 insurrectionists who nearly took my life ‘patriots’ and literally salutes them, is never elected president again," the email emphasized.

Using January 6 to challenge Trump's support for democracy

This maneuver underscores a pivotal aspect of the Biden team’s messaging approach, both on the campaign trail and in preparation for the debate stage in Atlanta: leveraging the events of January 6 to build a broader case regarding Trump’s mental stability and provoke an impassioned reaction from him.

"When Trump lost the 2020 election, he snapped," wrote Biden-Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon in a memo issued alongside a new ad conveying the same message. "He tried desperately to cling to power, and encouraged a violent assault on our nation’s Capitol, cheering on a mob that threatened to hang his own vice president."

This focus on democracy-centric messaging domestically will coincide with a series of democracy-themed summits with international partners, including a visit to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the annual meeting of leaders from the Group of Seven developed democracies, and a NATO summit in Washington, DC, anticipated to center on the defense of Ukraine against Russia.

Their firsthand accounts of the chaos and violence of January 6 are poised to become potent ammunition in the battle against Trump's political ambitions.

Biden campaign's use of Capitol police officers as surrogates sparks Internet reactions 

A user tweeted, "Great. Now we can hear them cry some more about a 4-year old riot where none of them died. Exactly what voters want to hear!"

Another added. "lol Joe is desperate bc he can’t run on his presidency."

A third said, "Because running on his record is not good enough."

"And yet again the Biden teams proves they can't read the room," stated a user.

"One of them couldn’t even win a Dem primary in Maryland," read a tweet.