Biden awards medal to Liz Cheney, committee chair Jan. 6: US ‘better for their commitment’
President Biden awarded Jan. 6 former House Select Committee leaders former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson the second-highest civilian award for their “exemplary acts of service to their country,” according to the White House.
“The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary acts of service to their country or their fellow citizens. President Biden believes that these Americans are bound together by a common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” the statement said. in a statement from the White House on Thursday.
The White House announced that 20 people across the country will receive the Presidential Citizens Medal on Thursday, including Cheney and Thompson, whom Biden praised as “fearless” and “firmly committed to the truth.”
“During two decades of public service, including as Congresswoman for Wyoming and Vice Chair of the January 6th Attack Committee, Liz Cheney has raised her voice — and reached across the aisle — to defend our nation and the ideals we stand for: Freedom. Her integrity and fearlessness remind us all that we are working together,” the White House said.
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Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks as the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Dec. 19, 2022. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. , is shown on the left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Born and raised in segregated Mississippi, as a student inspired by the civil rights movement, Bennie Thompson volunteered on campaigns and registered southern black voters. That calling eventually led him to Congress, where he chaired the House Committee on January 6—heading defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and a steadfast commitment to the truth,” Thompson’s statement read.
Thompson was chairman of the select committee on January 6, and Cheney was vice chairman. The January 6 Committee was established in July 2021 to investigate earlier violation of the US Capitol that year by Trump supporters before President Biden officially took office on January 20. The committee’s Jan. 6 investigation was conducted when Democrats held control of the House of Representatives.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation in 2023, after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives, and sent requests to the Justice Department recommending that Trump be prosecuted for his involvement in an attempt by his supporters to deface the Capitol.
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Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks as the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol holds a hearing on June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The commission was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican representativesCheney and Adam Kinzinger, both no longer in office.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Barrasso, R-Wyo., reacted to Biden’s decision to award Cheney the medal in an op-ed on Fox Digital on Thursday, blasting her as a former elected official who “represents partisanship and divisiveness.”
“President Biden was going to either pardon Liz Cheney or give her an award. She deserves neither. She represents partisanship and divisiveness, not Wyoming,” he said.
Elected Republican officials and President-elect Donald Trump have opposed the committee and its leaders for years, with a recent report from the House of Representatives calling on the FBI to investigate Cheney for “potential criminal witness tampering” related to her role on the former select committee.
Former Philadelphia Police Chief Al Schmidt testifies before Congress. (Jabin Botsford/Pool via REUTERS/File)
“Based on the evidence gathered by this subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely violated by Liz Cheney, the former vice chairman of the Select Committee on January 6, and those violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” said a report released last year. month to Subcommittee on Home Rule Board of Supervisors Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. “Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s attorney.”
Both Cheney and Thompson strongly criticized the report in comments to Fox Digital last month.
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“The Committee’s Jan. 6 hearings and report included a host of Republican witnesses, including many of the top officials from the Trump White House, campaign and administration,” Cheney said. “All of this testimony has been painstakingly set forth in thousands of pages of transcripts, published together with a highly detailed and meticulously selected 800-page report. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ deliberately ignores the truth and overwhelming weight of the Select Committee’s evidence, and instead invents falsehoods and slanderous allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump has done. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence and are a malicious and cowardly attack on the truth. No respectable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”
President Biden (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)
Cheney was the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, but her colleagues ousted her from the role of GOP conference chair in 2021. Cheney lost the 2022 primary for re-election to Trump-backed Rep. Harriet Hageman.
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The report followed speculation that Biden might grant Cheney a presidential pardon before leaving the Oval Office. Late last year, Trump renewed his long-standing criticism of Cheney and the committee on Jan. 6, suggesting she and Thompson could face prison terms.
“Cheney did something that is inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the unelected committee political thugs and, you know, creeps,” he said in an interview with NBC. “They erased and destroyed all the evidence.”
“And Cheney was behind it. And Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” he continued. – For what they did, honestly, they should go to prison.
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The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor a civilian can receive from the president, after the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to the Associated Press.
