President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney, the former Republican representative who co-chaired the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and an office linked to Cheney for comment via email outside of regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Cheney is one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Donald Trump and is a frequent target of the president-elect's attacks. Biden's decision to award her the second-highest civilian honor in the country seems to a major message from the president in the final days of his term in office.
What to Know
Cheney, a former Wyoming representative, will be awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal along with 19 other recipients during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.
The White House said in a press release that Cheney will receive the honor because she has "raised her voice and reached across the aisle" to defend our nation and its ideals, The Associated Press reported.
The White House praised Cheney for her work as a member of Congress and for co-chairing the January 6 committee.
Democratic Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, the other co-chair of the January 6 committee, will also receive the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Cheney's opposition to Trump has proved detrimental to her career in Republican politics. In February 2022, the Republican National Committee voted to censure Cheney and then Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the January 6 panel, for their role in investigating the riot carried out by Trump supporters.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney left office in January 2023 after losing her GOP primary to Trump-endorsed candidate Harriet Hageman in August 2022.
Cheney campaigned on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump in the 2024 election.
Biden has also been urged to offer a preemptive pardon for Cheney to protect from any potential retaliatory attacks and investigations on behalf on Trump.
Mary Bonauto, an activist who fought to legalize same-sex marriage, Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation and former Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman are among the other individuals to be awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by Biden.
In December 2022, the January 6 panel released its final report on the Capitol riot. The 845-page report accused Trump of being the leading figure in a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn the 2020 election results and recommended that criminal charges be brought against him.
Trump later pleaded not guilty to four federal charges in connection with his alleged criminal attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and the events leading up to the January 6 attack. The case was thrown out in November following Trump's election victory, as the Department of Justice has a policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
What People Are Saying
The White House said in a statement: "Throughout two decades in 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."
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Pathetic. With attacks happening in the United States and around the world, THIS is how Biden is spending his time today?"
President-elect Donald Trump told NBC's Meet the Press in early December: "Cheney did something that's inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps...Honestly, they should go to jail."
What Happens Next
Biden will award the recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday. Trump will return to the White House as president following his inauguration on January 20.
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