Pa. Secretary of State, Al Schmidt
Susan Walsh / AP Photo
Joe Biden to award Citizens Medal to 12 on Jan. 6 anniversary
By Zeke Miller /The Associated Press
Susan Walsh / AP Photo
Pa. Secretary of State, Al Schmidt
President Joe Biden on Friday will present the nation’s second highest civilian award to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election.
The White House announced on Thursday that Biden will present the Presidential Citizens Medal during an East Room ceremony marking the second anniversary of the assault on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump whose siege interrupted the congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
Among those being 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 lawmakers were evacuating the building.
Also being honored are two other Capitol Police officers, Harry Dunn and Caroline Edwards; Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell; Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges and a former officer, Michael Fanone.
Biden is also recognizing Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, and Rusty Bowers, a former Arizona House speaker, who resisted pressure to overturn the election results; and Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, who were subjected to threats and harassment after ensuring votes in the county were properly tabulated.
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- FILE – U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 9, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Edwards. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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- FILE – Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is comforted by her mother Ruby Freeman, right, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Moss and Freeman. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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- FILE – Rusty Bowers, Arizona state House Speaker, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Bowers. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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- FILE – Jocelyn Benson, Michigan secretary of state, testifies as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from election officials and Justice Department officials about the rise in threats toward elected leaders and election workers, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 3, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Benson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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- FILE – Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, left, and U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, speak with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., before a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Dec. 6, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Goodman and Hodges. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
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- FILE – From left, Serena Liebengood, widow of U.S. Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood, former Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn listen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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- FILE – In this Feb. 3, 2021 photo, a U.S. Capitol Police Officer holds a program during a ceremony memorializing U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as an urn with his cremated remains lies in honor on a black-draped table at the center of the Capitol Rotunda, in Washington. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including a posthumous award to Sicknick. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
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- FILE – Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges arrives at the Cannon Building, June 9, 2022, in Washington. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Hodges. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
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- FILE – Former Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone listens as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, July 21, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Fanone. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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- FILE – U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell listens as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 13, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Gonell. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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- FILE – U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, left, and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, listen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 9, 2022. President Joe Biden on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, will present the nation’s second highest civilian to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election, including Dunn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
An award is going to Al Schmidt, a former Philadelphia election official who faced public pressure by Trump to stop counting valid ballots. Schmidt, a Republican, will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania, secretary of state, by Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.
The Presidential Citizens Medal, created by President Richard Nixon in 1969, is the country’s second highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded to those who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”
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