President Joe Biden awarded Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the chair and vice chair of the now-defunct House Jan. 6 committee, with the Presidential Citizens Medal in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.
The medal is the second-highest civilian award in the United States, behind only the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“You are elected officials who served in difficult times with honor, decency, and ensure our democracy delivers,” Biden said while listing descriptions of the group of recipients.
Thompson’s and Cheney’s inclusion on the list of honorees comes amid threats from President-elect Donald Trump to punish former members of the House Jan. 6 committee, which conducted an 18-month investigation examining his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
“I think it’s pretty damn simple. Our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship,” Biden said at the awards ceremony. “That’s our work for the ages. That’s what all of you — and I mean this — all of you embody.”
Two sources familiar had told NBC News that Biden and his senior aides had discussed issuing pre-emptive pardons for those who could become targets of Trump in his next administration.