Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) described the two officers as “heroes” in her introduction when some Republicans walked out, according The Washington Post.
“Today we welcomed two American heroes, Officer Harry Dunn @libradunn and Sergeant Aquilino Gonell to the Pennsylvania Capitol. A number of House Republicans literally booed, hissed, and walked off the floor — there is no bottom,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D) wrote on X.
Gonell responded to her on X, saying it was “Great meeting you” and “acknowledging what we went through.”
“The @PAHouseGOP like many elected officials I helped protect and defend at the U.S. Capitol, have abandoned the truth/sided with those who attacked us, the police, while at the same time saying they support the police and the rule of law. I’m not buying your bridges,” Gonell wrote in a separate post on X.
State Rep. Emily Kinkead (D) said she was “dumbfounded” that some Republicans “disrespected these brave men by exiting the chamber during their recognition.”