President Joe Biden on Friday will mark the second anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol by awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 individuals associated with that day and with the 2020 presidential election.
The medal is the nation's second-highest civilian award, behind the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and is given to those who "performed exemplary deeds or services for his or her country or fellow citizens."
One of the medals to be awarded Friday at a White House ceremony will be posthumously to Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after engaging with rioters on Jan. 6, 2021. Six others affiliated with the Capitol Police or D.C. Police departments will be honored: Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards, Aquilino Gonell, Eugene Goodman, Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.
Three others are politicians who refused to buckle to pressure to overturn the presidential election results in their states: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, departing Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, and Al Schmidt, former city commissioner on the Philadelphia County Board of Elections.
The final two recipients, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, were election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, who reportedly endured threats and harassment after the election. Freeman and Moss have been accused by former President Donald Trump and some of his allies of election fraud by including fake ballots in Georgia's election total.
All of the recipients were mentioned in the final report by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot. All but Goodman and Sicknick were listed in the report as witnesses for which the committee called live testimony or played video during its hearings and meetings.
After a cabinet meeting Thursday, Biden was asked about the decision-making process about which individuals would receive the award.
"A lot of thinking [went into it], but we'll tell you about it tomorrow," Biden said.
There have been 175 previous recipients of the Citizens Medal, according to the National Foundation of Patriotism, the last being posthumously in 2019 to Rick Rescorla, former vice president of security for Morgan Stanley, for his heroic efforts evacuating people from the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.