Biden Will Mark Jan. 6 With Presidential Medals for Election Officials
Facts
- To mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, Pres. Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the US, to several individuals who either performed acts of heroism that day or aided to protect the results of the 2020 presidential election.[1]
- Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick received a posthumous award. He died of natural causes in the days after the riots, but according to a medical examiner, he suffered multiple strokes in the aftermath of that day.[2]
- Rusty Bowers, a Republican who served in the Arizona House, testified that he rejected pressure from then-Pres. Donald Trump to take the state’s elector votes away from then-Pres. elect Joe Biden. Bowers was publicly criticized by Trump and eventually lost in the Republican primary.[3]
- Law enforcement honorees included Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell; Capitol officers Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards, and Eugene Goodman; Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges; and retired Metropolitan officer Michael Fanone.[4]
- Michigan Sec. of State Jocelyn Benson, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, and Al Schmidt, a city commissioner on the Philadelphia County Board of Elections, were also honored by Biden.[4]
- The commemoration event comes as the now-Republican-majority House - which must first elect a speaker - has vowed to launch its own investigation into the riots, with a particular focus on security failures allowing the mob to breach the Capitol.[5]
Spin
Democratic narrative
These honorees showed exceptional courage – and in some cases put their lives on the line – to defend democracy from the Trump-inspired mob and those elsewhere who were trying to illegally change the election result. It’s important to recognize these people for their efforts as US democracy continues to be challenged by Trump and his acolytes.
Republican narrative
The second anniversary of the riots, and this award ceremony, are self-made opportunities for Democrats to stir up their hate of Trump and sell overblown tales of "insurrections" and "coups" to the public. Their desire to attack Trump, and more importantly his followers, is a thinly-veiled attempt to distract the electorate amid soaring inflation and diplomatic crises across the globe.
