President Biden awarded the second highest citizenship award to 20 recipients Thursday. This award is reserved for individuals “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House reported.
Among those given the award are two who served on the Jan. 6 Committee, including chairperson Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and vice chair former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
The press release highlighted Cheney’s achievements, nodding to her two decades of 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. Her integrity and intrepidness remind us all what is possible if we work together.”
Biden added he “believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”
Florida Sen. Ted Cruz reacted to Biden’s choice in giving Cheney the medal in an X post, writing, “This is truly unbelievable. Liz Cheney tampered with a witness. Outside of DC, that doesn’t get you a medal; it gets you jail time.”
In a Dec. 17 press release, the House Administration Committee accused Cheney of collusion with a witness and called for an investigation for “potential criminal witness tampering.”
Cheney was one of two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee, neither of whom are still in office.
Biden gives award to former Utah resident Mitsuye Endo
One of several recipients receiving the award posthumously is Mitsuye Endo, a prisoner at Topaz, Utah, in 1944.
Endo “challenged the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans, refusing an offer of early release from camp so that her case could be heard in federal courts,” according to Topaz Stories.
The Supreme Court ruled on her case, making it illegal for Japanese Americans to be incarcerated without a cause and requiring all camps to close within a year of the ruling.
Along with the award, Biden described Endo, writing, “Her resolve allowed thousands of Japanese Americans to return home and rebuild their lives, reminding us that we are a Nation that stands for freedom for all.”