the two-year anniversary of January 6 insurrection


President Joe Biden on Friday plans to mark the two-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021, insurrection by awarding for the first time in his presidency the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 people.

The individuals include law enforcement officers who were injured defending the Capitol, a Capitol Police officer who died the day after rioters stormed the building and election workers who rejected efforts by former President Donald rump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Biden is set to deliver remarks and host a ceremony at the White House honoring the dozen individuals chosen for having made “exemplary contributions to our democracy” and shown “courage and selflessness” around the events of January 6, a White House official familiar with the details said.The Presidential Citizens Medal is one of the country’s highest civilian honors, given to American citizens deemed to have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

Biden’s decision to distinguish Americans he sees as having protected the nation’s Capitol, its democratic institutions and elections system, is one of the major ways in which the president has sought to draw a stark contrast from his predecessor.

More than half of Friday’s 12 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal are current and former law enforcement officers.They include Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, credited for luring rioters away from the entrance to the Senate chambers as lawmakers were evacuating by using himself as “bait”; former DC police Officer Michael Fanone who was brutally assaulted by rioters and said he suffered a heart attack as a result of the experience (Fanone is now a CNN contributor); and Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who testified before the House January 6 committee that she hit her head during a clash with the insurrectionists and was knocked unconscious before she chose to run back into the chaos.

One person will receive the medal posthumously: Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was determined to have suffered strokes and died the day after he had responded to the insurrection. Washington DC’s chief medical examiner said that “all that transpired” on that day had “played a role in his condition.” Sicknick’s remains were laid in honor at the Capitol Rotunda last year.

Last edited by Spunky (1/05/2023 11:29 pm)