Biden to Award Second-Highest Civilian Honor to Members of J6 Committee

With less than 20 days left before his presidency comes to an end, Joe Biden is planning to award one of the highest civilian honors in the nation to two members of Congress who led the controversial January 6th Committee.

As reported by the Associated Press, a ceremony at the White House on Thursday will see 20 people receive the Presidential Citizens Medal. Among them will be Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.); Thompson was the chairman of the committee while Cheney was the committee’s ranking Republican.

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

The J6 Committee was controversial and heavily partisan from the beginning. When it was first announced, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) a chance to seat the conventional number of Republicans on the committee. However, she rejected two of his choices, Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), for being too conservative, which led to McCarthy refusing to name any Republicans to the committee.

Pelosi herself then chose just two Republicans for the committee, both of whom were known for being radically anti-Trump: Cheney and Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Both Cheney and Kinzinger became extremely unpopular as a result of their involvement, with Kinzinger choosing to retire ahead of the 2022 midterms, while Cheney was defeated by primary challenger Harriet Hageman in one of the biggest landslides against an incumbent in the history of the House of Representatives.

President-elect Donald Trump gave his thoughts on the J6 Committee in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying that “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps.” He also pointed out that the leadership of the committee “deleted and destroyed” evidence shortly before it was disbanded after the Republicans regained the majority in 2022, adding that “they should go to jail” for doing so.

Others who will also receive the award on Thursday include two of Biden’s former Senate colleagues, Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), as well as pro-LGBTQ activists. Biden has previously given the award to several Capitol Police officers who were involved in violently assaulting peaceful, pro-Trump protesters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.