U.S. President Joe Biden pays tribute to law enforcement officers who responded to the January 6 incident Congressional Uprising Legislation was signed on Thursday, granting Congress a gold medal for their service. Biden thanked the police officer for saving the lives of members of Congress during the “tragic moment” of the attack.
The medal is the highest honor that Congress can bestow. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House to sign the bill, which was passed unanimously by the Senate earlier this week.
On that day, when violent mobs of supporters of then President Donald Trump pushed them away and broke into the Capitol and interrupted Biden’s proof of victory, many military officers were beaten and injured. Some of them, including the four who testified at the House of Representatives hearing last week, spoke of lasting physical and psychological scars.
“My fellow Americans, let us remember what all this is about,” Biden said of the siege. “This is a violent attempt to overthrow the will of the American people, seek power at all costs, and replace votes with brute force. Destruction, not construction. Without democracy, nothing is possible. With it, everything is.”
The law will place medals in four places-Capitol Police Headquarters, Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Capitol and Smithsonian Institution.
Amy Klobuchar, the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and Democrat of Minnesota, said before the Senate passed that the medal is “a recognition that will be shown to people to understand and remember what these officials have done.” The police and the National Guard finally cleared the building and restarted counting.
Klobuchar said that the children of the future will be able to walk past the Smithsonian Museum to see the medal, and their parents will tell them, “This happened, this attack happened.”
The Senate passed the bill by oral vote, and the Republicans did not oppose it. The House of Representatives passed the bill in June, and 21 Republicans voted against the rebellion in Trump’s defense.
Trump, along with many Republicans who are still loyal to him, tried to rename the riots as peaceful protests, even though the law enforcement officers who responded that day described the violence in detail and clearly stated the damage caused to them. Four police officers who testified at an emotional hearing last week described in detail the near-death experiences of the mob assaulting and crushing them on their way into the building.
Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described that when the mob tried to goug his eyes and press him between two heavy doors, he foamed, bleeds and screamed. Congressional police officer Harry Dunn said that a large group of people yelled the N at him because he tried to prevent them from breaking into the House of Representatives. Both attended the White House ceremony.
U.S. Congressional Riot: Police who endured violence from the riot testified for the first time
At least nine people in the Capitol that day died during and after the riots, including a woman who was shot to death by police while trying to break into the House of Representatives, and three other Trump supporters who suffered a medical emergency. In the following days, two policemen committed suicide and the third policeman, Congressman Brian Siknick, fell to the ground after contacting the protesters. A forensic doctor determined that he died of natural causes.
Last week, the Metropolitan Police Department announced that two other police officers who had responded to the uprising had committed suicide. Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead on July 10, and Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead at home on Thursday. The circumstances that led to their deaths are unclear.
The police said in a statement: “We are saddened as a department.”
At the ceremony of submitting the bill to the president, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that January 6 was “a moment, a very tragic day for our country”, and praised the courage and patriotism of the Congressional police. .
Pelosi said: “I am very sad, because of such a tragedy that they have received their approval.”
Since 1776, the Congressional Gold Medal has been awarded by the legislative branch. Previous winners include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope and Robert Frost. In recent years, Congress awarded medals to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason and cyclist Greg LeMond.
© 2021 Canadian Press
