Biden marks anniversary of U.S. Capitol riots with award ceremony for day’s ‘heroes’ Yesterday

President Joe Biden on Friday marked the second anniversary of the U.S. Capitol assault with an award ceremony for many who battled to defend America’s democracy towards attackers he stated have been “fuelled by lies” in regards to the 2020 presidential election.

Biden, a Democrat, awarded the “Presidential Residents Medal” to 14 individuals, a few of them posthumously, and gave remarks in a White Home ceremony whereas Republicans, a lot of them loyal to former President Donald Trump, struggled for a fourth straight day to elect a speaker of the Home of Representatives.

“All of it was fuelled by lies in regards to the 2020 election however on this present day two years in the past our democracy held as a result of we the individuals…didn’t flinch,” Biden stated.

The White Home on Friday added two names to the record, each of whom took their very own lives within the aftermath of Jan. 6, U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood and Washington police officer Jeffrey Smith.

The honorees additionally included former Arizona Home Speaker Rusty Bowers and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who resisted strain to overturn the 2020 election ends in their states, Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who diverted rioters from the Senate ground whereas lawmakers have been evacuating, and Georgia election employee Ruby Freeman, who was falsely accused by Trump of election fraud.

Freeman was pressured to flee her residence final 12 months after demise threats from indignant Trump supporters. Trump on Wednesday focused Freeman by identify once more to his almost 5 million followers on his social media platform.

Jan. 6, 2021: On this present day, an indignant mob assaults the U.S. Capitol constructing

The White Home known as the honorees “heroes” who demonstrated braveness and selflessness throughout a second of peril for America.

Trump supporters attacked police, broke by way of barricades and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed effort to stop congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump, who has introduced one other bid for the presidency in 2024, continues to assert falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him by way of widespread voting fraud.

The White Home occasion will present Biden one other alternative to sentence the acts of violence two years in the past and lift considerations in regards to the threats to U.S. democracy by Trump and other people impressed by him. The shortcoming of Republicans thus far this week to elect a Home speaker, after successful management of the chamber within the November midterm elections, has hinged on a hardline group of largely Trump-supporting lawmakers, a lot of whom backed his election fraud claims.

The struggle to select a Home chief has raised questions in regards to the capability of Republicans to manipulate with a slim majority within the Home. Biden has known as the speaker election drama embarrassing.

Biden supplied one other distinction with bickering Home Republicans throughout a joint look with Senate Republican chief Mitch McConnell on Wednesday in Kentucky in a show of bipartisanship. Democrats narrowly management the U.S. Senate.

Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died within the days following the assault on the Capitol, was awarded posthumous medal. Washington’s chief health worker dominated that Sicknick died of pure causes following a number of strokes after the assault on the Capitol.

Shortly earlier than the rampage, Trump in his waning days as president delivered a speech close to the White Home urging his supporters to march on the Capitol. 5 individuals died within the ensuing riot and greater than 140 law enforcement officials have been injured. A U.S. Home panel investigating the assault stated final month that Trump ought to face prison costs for his function in upsetting the violence.