President Joe Biden is set to honour the nation’s second-highest civilian award to Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, the lawmakers who chaired the congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot by Donald Trump’s supporters.
The recognition comes as Donald Trump sharply criticises them, calling for their imprisonment and claiming that Cheney “could be in a lot of trouble” once he takes office, reported news agency AFP.
The former Wyoming House representative, along with 19 other distinguished individuals, will receive the Presidential Citizens Medal for “exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House said in a statement.
“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said.
“The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” it added.
Earlier last year, Biden honoured individuals who protected the Capitol during the riots and those who safeguarded American voters’ wishes during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the results, the Associated Press reported.
Trump, who secured victory in the 2024 election and is set to assume office on January 20, maintains his disputed claims about the 2020 presidential election and has expressed his intention to grant pardons to the rioters upon taking office.
In his appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump stated, “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” claiming without evidence that they “deleted and destroyed” collected testimony.
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” he added.
President Joe Biden will present the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 individuals during a White House ceremony.
Recognising a diverse group of honourees, including:
- Among the 20 individuals are two of his longstanding associates, former Senators Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
- The former lawmakers being honored are Senator Bill Bradley, D-N J, Senator Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas and
- Representative Carolyn McCarthy, D-N Y, a staunch advocate for gun safety after losing her husband and son to gun violence.
- He will also be honouring attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalise same-sex marriage and Evan Wolfson, a prominent leader in the marriage equality movement.
- Additional honorees include Frank Butler, renowned for setting new standards in the use of tourniquets for war injuries
- Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who established the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation
- Eleanor Smeal, a women’s rights activist who led 1970s protests for equal pay.
- Photographer Bobby Sager
- Academics Thomas Vallely and Paula Wallace
- Frances Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition
Posthumously honour four more distinguished individuals, including:
- Joseph Galloway, who covered the initial significant Vietnam battle and co-authored “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young”
- Louis Lorenzo Redding, a civil rights lawyer and advocate
- Collins Seitz, who served as a Delaware state judge
- Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who was held with other Japanese Americans during World War II and challenged the detention.
Established by President Richard Nixon in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal ranks as the nation’s second most prestigious civilian distinction, following the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
