The President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced on Thursday a list of twenty people to whom he will award the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian award in the country, and among whom are Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, president and vice president of the House of Representatives committee that investigated the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Donald Trump’s defeat in the elections last November.
Regarding Thompson, Biden has highlighted her commitment to the rights of the black population, and has stressed that this call to serve led him to the House of Representatives, where he chaired the aforementioned committee and worked for “the defense of the rule of law with unwavering integrity and a firm commitment to the truth,” according to a statement published by the White House.
Beyond Thompson, the recognition of Cheney stands out, a prominent congresswoman for the Republican Party who even held positions in the Administration of George W. Bush – of which her father, Dick Cheney, was vice president – but whose criticism of Trump and her support for the impeachment of the magnate cost her her reputation in the party.
“Throughout two decades in public service, including as a congresswoman for Wyoming and vice president of the Committee on the attack of January 6, Liz Cheney has raised her voice (and has reached the other side of the aisle) to defend our nation and the ideals we defend: freedom, dignity and decency,” the Biden Administration said in the aforementioned statement.
The United States House of Representatives carried out an investigation into the violent assault on the Capitol after concluding that Trump had criminally participated in a “multi-party conspiracy” to annul the election results and that he did not act to prevent a mob of acolytes from attacking the US Congress.
Trump, who will take office on January 20 after winning the elections in November, has repeatedly said that Thompson and Cheney did “something unforgivable” and has indicated that “they should go to jail.” Biden has not even considered offering preemptive pardons to either of them in the face of possible punishments pushed by Trump.
