Washington – President Joe Biden on Friday will present the nation’s second-highest civilian award to 12 individuals who participated in defending the Capitol during the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and preserving the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election.
The White House announced Thursday that Biden will present the Citizens Presidential Medal during a ceremony in the East Room marking the second anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump whose siege broke off congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
Among those honored are seven members of law enforcement, including a posthumous award to Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the attack, and an award to officer Eugene Goodman who was credited with directing rioters away from the Senate floor while evacuating lawmakers. Building.
Two other Capitol police officers, Harry Dunn and Carolyn Edwards, were also honored; Capitol Police Sergeant. Aquilino Gonel, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, and former Officer Michael Fanon.
Biden also acknowledges Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Rusty Powers, the former Arizona House Speaker, who resisted pressure to overturn the election results. and Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shay Moss, an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, who were subjected to threats and harassment after ensuring that votes in the county were properly tabulated.
The award will go to Schmidt, a former election official in Philadelphia who faced public pressure from Trump to stop counting valid votes. Schmidt, a Republican, will be nominated for Pennsylvania’s top election management post, secretary of state, by Pennsylvania governor-elect Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.
The Presidential Citizens Medal, established by President Richard Nixon in 1969, is the nation’s second-highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded to those who have “done exemplary acts of service to their country or fellow countrymen”.
Copyright © 2023 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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