Granted by President Biden Former House Select Committee leaders on Jan. 6, former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, received the second-highest civilian medal for “exemplary acts of service to their country,” according to the White House.
“The Presidential Citizen's Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary acts of service to their country or fellow citizens. President Biden believes these Americans are connected by their shared morality and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” the White House said in a statement Thursday.
The White House announced that 20 people across the country will receive the Presidential Citizen's Medal on Thursday, including Cheney and Thompson, whom Biden praised as “courageous” and carrying an “unwavering commitment to the truth.”
“Over two decades of public service, including as a Wyoming congresswoman and vice chair of the January 6 Attack Committee, Liz Cheney has raised her voice — and reached across the aisle — to defend our nation and the ideals we stand for,” the White House said in its statement. On Cheney: “Freedom, dignity, integrity and boldness remind us all of what is possible if we work together.”
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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 Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. , shown on the left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Born and raised in segregated Mississippi, Benny Thompson, as a college student inspired by the civil rights movement, volunteered in campaigns and registered southern black voters. This call to service eventually led him to Congress, where he chaired the House January 6 Committee,” Thompson said in a statement: “At the forefront of defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and an unwavering commitment to the truth.”
Thompson served as Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee, while Cheney served as Vice Chairman. The January 6 Commission was established in July 2021 to investigate the January 6 case The US Capitol building was breached earlier That year by Trump supporters before President Biden officially took office on January 20. The Jan. 6 committee investigation was conducted when Democrats took control of the House.
The committee ended its 18-month investigation in 2023, after Republicans regained control of the House, and sent referrals to the Justice Department that recommended Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to the storming of the Capitol by his supporters.
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Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Missouri, speaks as the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol holds a hearing on June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakersand Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office.
Incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso responded to Biden's decision to award Cheney the medal in a commentary for Fox Digital on Thursday, criticizing her as a former elected official who “represents partisanship and division.”
“President Biden would have pardoned Liz Cheney or given her an award. She doesn't deserve that either. She represents partisanship and division, not Wyoming,” he said.
Republican elected officials and President-elect Donald Trump have criticized the committee and its leaders for years, with a recent House GOP report calling for the FBI to investigate Cheney for “possible criminal witness tampering” related to her role on the previous select committee.
Former Philadelphia Police Chief Al Schmidt testifies before Congress. (Jabin Botsford/Pool via Reuters/File)
“Based on the evidence obtained by this subcommittee, it is likely that numerous federal laws were violated by Liz Cheney, former Vice Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI,” a recent report said. “. month by Home Administration Subcommittee For Oversight Chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Republican of Georgia. “Evidence disclosed 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 attorneys.”
Both Cheney and Thompson criticized the report in statements to Fox Digital last month.
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“The January 6th Commission hearings and its report included dozens of Republican witnesses, including many senior officials in the White House and the Trump campaign and administration,” Cheney said. “All of this testimony was painstakingly laid out in thousands of pages of text, and published alongside a highly detailed and carefully sourced 800-page report. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘interim report’ deliberately ignores the truth and the enormous weight of evidence presented by the committee.” Instead they make up lies and defamatory claims in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did, and their claims do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth that will not take hold. “Any lawyer, legislator or judge seriously.”
President Biden (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images/File)
Cheney served as the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House but was ousted from her role as GOP conference chair by her colleagues in 2021. Cheney lost her 2022 primary bid for re-election to Trump-backed Rep. Harriet Hagman.
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The report came after speculation that Biden may grant Cheney a presidential pardon before leaving the Oval Office. Late last year, Trump renewed his long-standing criticism of Cheney and the January 6 Commission, suggesting that she and Thompson could face prison time.
“Cheney did something unforgivable, along with Thompson and the people on the non-select committee Political thugs, you know, creeps,“They deleted and destroyed all the evidence,” he said in an interview with NBC.
He continued: “Cheney was behind it. So was Bennie Thompson and everyone on that committee.” “Honestly, for what they did, they should go to prison.”
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The Presidential Citizen's Medal is the second-highest honor a civilian can receive from the president, after the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to the Associated Press.
