Biden Awards Presidential Citizens Medal to 20, Including Liz Cheney

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.”

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House wrote in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Cheney and Thompson, the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, were among those recognized by Biden during the Jan. 2 medals ceremony.

President-elect Donald Trump had called for Cheney and Thompson to be jailed.

“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee,” he previously told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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Cheney, who publicly opposes Trump, later said she would vote and campaign for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.

Biden has considered offering preemptive pardons to Cheney and others who may become targets of future investigations.

“Throughout two decades in public service, including as a Congresswoman for Wyoming and Vice Chair of the Committee on the January 6 attack, Liz Cheney has raised her voice—and reached across the aisle—to defend our Nation and the ideals we stand for: Freedom. Dignity. And decency,” the White House wrote in a statement.

“Her integrity and intrepidness remind us all what is possible if we work together.”

Thompson was lauded for his work registering black voters in the South after being inspired by the Civil Rights Movement.

“That call to serve eventually led him to Congress, where he chaired the House January 6th Committee—at the forefront of defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and a steadfast commitment to truth,” the White House wrote.

The other recipients include Americans who fought for legalizing same-sex marriages, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president’s longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

Presidential Citizen Medal Winners

Mary L. Bonauto, an attorney and activist, fought to legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. She also argued before the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, establishing marriage equality as law.

“Her efforts made millions of families whole and forged a more perfect Union,” the White House wrote.

Frank K. Butler Jr., a retired Navy Seal and doctor, introduced Tactical Combat Casualty Care to the medical world and set new standards for tourniquet use, transforming battlefield trauma care for the U.S. military.

Dodd was honored for spending 50 years as a senator, lawyer, diplomat, and U.S. congressman.

“From advancing childcare, to reforming our financial markets, to fostering partnerships across the Western Hemisphere—[Dodd] has stood watch over America as a beacon to the world,” the White House wrote.

Kaufman has a long history with Biden, dating back to his work on the president’s first Senate campaign in 1972. Over Biden’s decades-long political career, Kaufman served as chief of staff and administrative assistant and was the head of Biden’s transition team in 2020. Then-Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner appointed Kaufman to fill the remainder of Biden’s Senate term when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama won the 2008 election.

“A master of the Senate who championed everyday Americans and public servants, [Kaufman’s] been at the forefront of consequential debates about the courts, the financial system, and more,” the White House wrote.

Deceased journalist and author Joseph L. Galloway also received the medal for his decades spent “sharing first-hand accounts on battlefields from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf,” according to the White House. Galloway rescued wounded American soldiers under fire, becoming the only civilian to win a Bronze Star for combat valor from the U.S. Army. He co-authored the popular Vietnam War book “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang—The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam.”

Others who received the Presidential Citizens Medal include former NBA star and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley, U.S. Army nurse Diane Carlson Evans, former Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.), former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), deceased Civil Rights attorney Louis Lorenzo Redding, philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager, deceased Delaware Judge Collins J. Seitz, feminist activist Eleanor Smeal, and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi—whose Supreme Court case ended the U.S. government’s practice of interning Japanese citizens during World War II who remained loyal to the country.

The remaining recipients were Vietnam War Marine veteran Thomas J. Vallely, National Breast Cancer Coalition President Frances M. Visco, Savannah College of Art and Design President and cofounder Paula S. Wallace, and LGBT activist and attorney Evan Wolfson.

Biden gave the recipients their awards in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.

Last year, the president chose to honor Americans involved in defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach and those who safeguarded the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.