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Jan. 6 (UPI) — President Joe Biden commemorated the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by presenting one of the nation’s highest civilian honors to the officers who fought to protect Congress and local elections officials who defied extreme pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 ballot.
Biden presented the Presidential Citizens Medals on Friday during a special White House ceremony. The honor is bestowed to those who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” White House officials told NBC News, CNN and The New York Times.
“Two years ago, on January the 6th, our democracy was attacked. There’s no other way of saying it,” Biden said in his opening remarks.
“A violent mob of insurrectionists assaulted law enforcement, vandalized sacred halls, hunted down elected officials, all for the purpose to attempt to overthrow the will of the people and usurp the peaceful transfer of power.”
The ceremony comes two years after a violent mob stormed Congress in an effort to disrupt certification of Biden’s 2020 election win, believing the uprising would somehow result in a second term for then-President Donald Trump, who lost the electoral vote but falsely claimed to his followers that the process was rigged.
“But on this day two years ago, our democracy held. Because we the people, did not flinch. We the people endured. We the people prevailed. And on this day of remembrance … we honor a remarkable group of Americans, who embodied the best before, during and after January 6th, 2021,” the president said, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris.
The group of medal recipients includes seven police officers who protected Congress during the riot, among them Brian Sicknick, who died of a stroke a day after trying to fend off Trump’s most radical supporters.
Also among the honorees was Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic secretary of state in Michigan who presided over a lengthy vote count in Detroit; and Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, election workers in Fulton County, Ga., who were falsely accused by Trump of vote tampering.
Recipients also include several notable Republicans — among them, former Arizona House speaker Rusty Bowers; and Al Schmidt, a Pennsylvania city commissioner whose insistence on counting all absentee ballots all but sealed Trump’s defeat in the crucial battleground state.
Several medal recipients previously testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, which has since recommended that the Justice Department bring four criminal charges against the former president — including obstruction of an official proceeding of the U.S. government; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make false statements; and to “incite,” “assist” or “aid or comfort” an insurrection.
Since taking office, Biden has warned the attack was a sign of rising extremism in the United States, which poses a serious threat to democracy.
Others receiving a medal Friday included Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer who also faced down the rioters on Jan. 6; Caroline Edwards, who was the first officer injured during the melee; and former Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone, who has since become one of the most vocal advocates for victims of the attack.
Aquilino Gonell, a Capitol Police sergeant who was injured that day also received the honor, along with fellow officer Eugene Goodman, who strategically led the mob along a flight of stairs and away from the Senate chamber during the attack.
Daniel Hodges, a Washington police officer who was injured in the attack also received the recognition. The day of the riot was Hodges’ first time in the U.S. Capital, according to the White House.
Earlier Friday, the U.S. House members held a moment of silence on the chamber floor in honor of those who were injured or killed in the attack.
