Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney among those to receive Presidential Citizens Medal tonight

CASPER, Wyo. — Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney and 19 other people will receive the second highest civilian medal from President Joe Biden in a ceremony Thursday afternoon.

According to the Associated Press, President Biden is also giving a medal to Bennie Thompson, who alongside Cheney oversaw the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement, according to the AP. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Last year, Biden honored the people who helped defend the Capitol from the mob of angry supporters of Donald Trump, who had refused to accept the presidential election results of 2020 and repeatedly tried to overturn them.

Once a staunch conservative and Trump supporter, Cheney became an outspoken critic of the former and now president elect. She supported his second impeachment, and eventually had a prominent role in the riot investigation. In retaliation, Republicans ousted her from her high-ranking House Republican Conference, and she later lost to Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman in Wyoming’s 2022 primary elections.

Even after winning the 2024 presidential elections, Trump has refused to walk away from lies about the 2020 election and has specifically spoken out against Cheney and Thompson. In an Interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said, “Honestly, they should go to jail.”

According to the AP, other honorees include Frank Butler, who set new standards for using tourniquets on war injuries; Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Eleanor Smeal, an activist who led women’s rights protests in the 1970s and fought for equal pay.

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