WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden gave high praise to 14 police officers and local officials on Friday for their work in thwarting Donald Trump’s coup attempt two years earlier in a last-ditch effort to overturn the already-lost 2020 election.
“History will remember your name,” Biden told honorees and family members there to represent the deceased recipient. “What you do has consequences.”
A ceremony in the East Room of the White House awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to current and former officials Michael Fanone, Eugene Goodman and Caroline Edwards, as well as Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the mother-daughter team of election workers in Atlanta who faced death. threat after Trump repeatedly targeted him in his remarks.
“Ruby and Shaye, you didn’t deserve what happened to you, but you deserve the nation’s thanks for showing us your dignity and grace,” Biden said.
Republican Rusty Bowers, the outgoing speaker of the Arizona House who was forced by Trump to cancel the election in the state, was honored, as was Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state who faced threats from Trump supporters there, and Al Schmidt, who faced similar attacks as commissioner Republican city in Philadelphia.
Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
Officers Aquilino Gonell, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, whose heads were crushed against a door amid the Capitol riots, also received medals.
The parents of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who died hours after being attacked by a Trump mob, accepted a medal for their son.
“I know you’re proud of the honor given to Brian, but I also understand the difficulty of this time to take back everything that happened that day,” Biden said.
Also honored posthumously were officers Howard Liebengood and Jeffrey Smith, who both died by suicide after sustaining severe injuries during the Capitol attack.
“Jan. 6 is a reminder that nothing is guaranteed in our democracy,” said Biden. “Despite our differences, we must say clearly with a united voice that there is no place – zero, zero – in America for voter intimidation or political violence.”
Bowers, who lost his state Senate bid in Arizona in the Republican primary because he refused to side with Trump, said he still can’t believe that day. “Everything is very dark. Tomorrow I get up and go, okay? What are you doing to benefit?” he said.
The unprecedented effort to overturn the election has been the focus of the Biden presidency so far. As president-elect, he went on camera on the evening of January 6, 2021, to demand that Trump get rid of the rioters he had incited. “It is not a protest. It’s a rebellion,” he said from his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
Trump, after trying but failing to lead his followers to the Capitol to block the ceremony certifying his election loss, remained in the White House, watching the violence for three hours before finally releasing a video telling him to leave the building.
After taking office three weeks later, Biden told the American people that January 6 was an attack on democracy itself, and regularly reminded the country that Trump and his supporters continued to spread the same lies about the “stolen” election that caused the violence in the first place.
“For the first time in our history, the president did not just lose the election; he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol,” he said in a 25-minute speech that was delivered in the Capitol itself to mark the anniversary of one year. “And in this memorial day, we must make sure that such an attack never happens again.”
Biden continued to press the theme as the midterms approached last fall, giving a speech just five days before the election to warn of the threat posed by “MAGA Republican” candidates who continue to embrace Trump.
“American democracy is under attack because the former president of the United States who lost refused to accept the results of the 2020 election. He refused to accept the will of the people. He refused to accept the fact that he lost,” said Biden.
To the surprise of many political observers, concerns about democracy played an important role in the Democrats’ unexpected performance in the midterms, as many voters – including many Republicans – turned against the candidates who had been endorsed by Trump and continued to spread. his election was a lie.
Despite losing the 2020 election by 7 million national votes and 306-232 in the Electoral College, Trump became the first president in more than two centuries of US elections to refuse to hand over power peacefully. Insute of the January 6 attack on the Capitol – the last attempt to stay in office – led to the death of five people, including a police officer, as well as the wounding of 140 other officers and four policemen died.
However, Trump remains the dominant figure in the Republican Party and has announced his candidacy for the presidency again in 2024.
In a statement on his personal social media platform, Trump continued to lie about the election and the work of the House committee on January 6, which he called a “hoax” similar to the previous investigation about the 2016 campaign’s acceptance of Russian aid and the attempt to extort Ukraine to help the 2020 run.
Igor Bobic contributed to this report.