Despite Donald Trump’s calls for her to be jailed for it, President Joe Biden has bestowed Liz Cheney with the second-highest civilian medal for her role in the congressional investigation into January 6 Capitol riots.
Cheney was one of 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal that was handed out on Thursday, in recognition of her co-leading the inquiry into the insurrection alongside Bennie Thompson, who also received the medal. “President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said of the recipients in a statement.
“The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.” Cheney received rapturous applause and a standing ovation as she collected the medal, according to attendees at the ceremony. It follows on from last year’s Citizens Medal ceremony, which saw Biden award multiple people who were involved in defending the Capitol building from a mob of angry Trump supporters in January, 2021.
As a refresher, the inquiry that followed saw Cheney lead a committee investigation into the events of January 6, which concluded in a final report that Trump had engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election.
It also concluded that Trump had failed to stop his supporters from unleashing violence on the Capitol, with Thompson declaring that the president-elect was the person who “lit that fire.” Naturally, Cheney’s involvement in the investigation — as well as her later fervent support of Trump’s former presidential opponent, Kamala Harris — made her a target for Trump, who regularly lambasted her on the campaign trail. In November, Trump called Cheney, the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, a “war hawk,” and suggested having her stand in front of a rifle with “nine barrels shooting at her.”
That prompted a response from Cheney, who described Trump as a “petty, vindictive, cruel [and] unstable man,” but the lingering animosity as a result of the Capitol riot inquiry didn’t stop there. In December, Trump said Cheney and Thompson did something “inexcusable” as part of a “committee of political thugs,” and declared that they “should go to jail” for their involvement in the inquiry. Trump later claimed in a social media post that Cheney had broken “federal laws” during her January 6 inquiry and called for her to be “investigated by the FBI.”
That Biden has chosen to ignore Trump and award Cheney for the root cause of his grievances feels like an exercise in poetic justice (he’s probably drafting an almost-ineligible X response as we speak), but her receiving of the Presidential Citizens Medal doesn’t necessarily mean she’s out of the woods. According to ABC News, Biden has been considering granting Cheney a preemptive pardon to shield her from Trump’s revenge-like prosecutions, especially in light of Trump’s previous and consistent vows to pardon the convicted January 6 rioters during his second term.
If it comes to fruition, Cheney would join Hunter Biden as one of the more prominent names on the president’s list of pardons and clemencies in the final months of his presidency. Cheney will receive the medal — which was created by President Richard Nixon in 1969 and is the country’s second highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom — alongside a host of notable figures, including attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalize same-sex marriage, and Evan Wolfson, a leader of the marriage equality movement.
Published: Jan 3, 2025 03:49 am