The coins are duplicates of Congressional Gold Medals issued to law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
The U.S. Mint has removed from its website the gold medals honoring police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot — another instance of President Donald Trump’s administration moving to take down material related to the violent episode stemming from his falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results.
Bronze duplicates of the Congressional Gold Medals that honored officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department had been available for purchase by the public on the Mint’s website.
NBC News reached out to the U.S. Mint on Thursday asking about the removal of the replica medals and did not receive a response.
Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was injured by the mob on Jan. 6, told NBC News that he tried to purchase a number of the replica medals this week, planning to hand them out as gifts, and was surprised to see they were no longer available.
Gonell said the erasure of the medals fits in a broader pattern, pointing to the failure of Congress to place a memorial for law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol up in the building before Trump’s second inauguration last month.
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Justice Department webpages that listed the cases and featured summaries of the work of the federal prosecutors who brought Jan. 6 cases were also removed from the web after Trump took office.
“Not only do Republican members of Congress refuse to put up the plaque, but they are even erasing and removing the ability to purchase the coin for the Congressional Gold Medal,” Gonell said.
Before the listing was erased from the Mint’s website, a description noted that the medal was struck under the authority of Public Law 117-32, an act passed in August 2021 to honor the “sacrifice of heroes including Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith, and those who sustained injuries, and the courage of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman.”
The law called on the Mint to “expedite production of the gold medals and duplicate medals under this Act, so that the sacrifices of fallen officers and their families, and the contributions of other law enforcement agencies who answered the call of duty on January 6, 2021, can be recognized and honored in a timely manner.”
Trump pardoned more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and commuted the related sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, including some who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
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