Biden to Award Capitol Police Medals on Jan. 6 Anniversary

© Bloomberg Demonstrators clash with U.S. Capitol police officers while trying to enter the Capitol building during a protest outside of in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. The U.S. Capitol was placed under lockdown and Vice President Mike Pence left the floor of Congress as hundreds of protesters swarmed past barricades surrounding the building where lawmakers were debating Joe Biden's victory in the Electoral College.

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers who defended the US Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection in a White House ceremony to be held Friday.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• If You Have Student Loans, Mark These Dates on Your Calendar
• What We Know About the ‘Kraken’ Covid Variant XBB.1.5 and Why It’s Causing Concern
• Ukraine Latest: Kyiv Skeptical on Putin’s Brief Cease-Fire Offer
• Why Conservatives Are Blocking McCarthy as Speaker — and Throwing Congress Into Chaos
• Amazon to Slash More Than 18,000 Jobs in Escalation of Cuts

Biden will deliver an address to mark the two-year anniversary of the attack and recognize 12 individuals who protected democracy, according to the White House.

Among those who will be honored are Michael Fanone, a Metropolitan Police officer who was injured in the attack and resigned from the force, Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who is credited with diverting rioters from the Senate floor. 

Brian Sicknick, also from Capitol Police, who confronted the attackers and later died after suffering a stroke, will be awared the medal posthumously.

It will be the first time Biden has awarded the Citizens Medal. Other honorees include election workers and state and local officials, who faced pressure over the 2020 vote counts in their states.

Biden will give medals to former Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Rusty Bowers, who was Arizona House speaker in 2020, and Shaye Moss, who was an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia.

In 2022, Biden marked the Jan. 6 anniversary with an address blaming former President Donald Trump directly for the violence at the Capitol. The House committee investigating the attack delivered its report last month, also laying the blame on “one man” — Trump — and with the first-ever congressional criminal referral against a former president. 

(Adds details)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• The Secret to Ron DeSantis’s Success? Ignore Donald Trump—and Attack Business Instead
• How McDonald’s Won Russia—and Then Lost It All
• New York Landlords Try Carbon-Sucking Towers to Comply With Climate Law
• There Has Never Been a Better Time for Billionaire Schadenfreude
• The Many Forces Fueling Tesla’s $860 Billion Tumble

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.