President Biden Honors Key Contributors to Jan. 6 Investigation with Citizens Medal
President Joe Biden is preparing to award the distinguished Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, the congressional figures who led the inquiry into the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a violent event incited by supporters of Donald Trump, who has publicly called for their imprisonment.
The ceremony, set to take place on Thursday at the White House, will recognize a total of 20 honorees, including advocates for marriage equality, a pioneer in the treatment of injured veterans, and two of Biden’s longtime allies, former Senators Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).
In a statement from the White House, it was emphasized that “President Biden sees these Americans as united by their fundamental decency and commitment to serving others. Their efforts and sacrifices have contributed to making our nation a better place.”
Last year, Biden honored individuals who played crucial roles in defending the Capitol from rioters and those who upheld democratic principles during the tumultuous 2020 presidential election, which Trump attempted to overturn without success.
Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, and Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, led the House committee investigating the insurrection. Cheney has since declared her intention to support Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming 2024 election, even campaigning with her, an action that has angered Trump. Meanwhile, Biden has been considering the possibility of offering preemptive pardons to Cheney and others who have faced Trump’s ire.
Despite winning the 2024 election and gearing up to take office on January 20, Trump continues to spread false claims regarding the 2020 election results and has indicated that he would pardon the January 6 rioters upon his return to office.
In a recent interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump remarked, “Cheney has committed an unforgivable act, along with Thompson and the members of the so-called select committee of political thugs and creeps,” alleging, without substantiation, that they “deleted and destroyed” evidence collected during the investigation.
“They should honestly be jailed,” he asserted.
Biden will also recognize Mary Bonauto, an attorney crucial to the legalization of same-sex marriage, and Evan Wolfson, who played a significant role in the marriage equality movement.
Other distinguished honorees include Frank Butler, who set new standards for combat injury tourniquets; Diane Carlson Evans, a Vietnam War Army nurse who established the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Eleanor Smeal, an advocate for women’s rights and equal pay during the 1970s.
Additional recipients include photographer Bobby Sager, scholars Thomas Vallely and Paula Wallace, and Frances Visco, the leader of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Among the former lawmakers being honored are ex-Senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas, and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), who has been a vocal advocate for gun safety following the tragic losses of her son and husband.
Biden will also posthumously honor four individuals: Joseph Galloway, a former war correspondent noted for his reporting on the first major battle in Vietnam; civil rights attorney Louis Lorenzo Redding; former Delaware state judge Collins Seitz; and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, an activist who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Established by President Richard Nixon in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal is the second-highest civilian honor in the United States, following the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and is bestowed upon individuals who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens.”
