Those honored included former Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, former Democratic U.S. House Representative Carolyn McCarthy, and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the House committee investigating the role of former and future U.S. President Donald Trump led the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Together you embody – and I feel this from the bottom of my heart – the fundamental truth: We are a great nation, we are a great nation because we are a good people,” Biden said addressing those honored. Both Cheney and Thompson received a standing ovation at the ceremony.
The White House had previously vowed in a statement that Cheney had raised her voice “to defend our nation and the ideals we stand for: freedom, dignity and decency across borders.”
Cheney, daughter of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, is one of the harshest internal party critics of Donald Trump, who is starting his second term in the White House after his victory in the presidential election on January 20th.
After the storming of the Capitol by fanatical supporters of the right-wing populist, Cheney stood against President Trump, who was still in office at the time, and was deputy chair of the parliamentary committee that investigated the events. Trump had recently threatened the 58-year-old with “difficulties” and investigations by the FBI.
After Liz Cheney stood up to Trump, she lost her seat in the House of Representatives in the 2022 election. In the presidential election campaign on November 5th, the Republican supported the candidacy of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump.
