By MARY CLARE JALONICK, FARNOUSH AMIRI and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 have been honored Tuesday with Congressional Gold Medals, praised as “heroes” for securing democracy once they fought off a brutal and bloody assault by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an emotional ceremony, tensions nonetheless uncooked within the stately Capitol Rotunda, which was overrun that day when Trump supporters roamed the halls attempting to cease Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.
“January 6 was a day of horror and heartbreak; it is also a moment of extraordinary heroism —staring down deadly violence and despicable bigotry,” Pelosi mentioned.
In bestowing Congress’ highest honor, Pelosi praised the heroes for “courageously answering the call to defend our democracy in one of the nation’s darkest hours.”
Senate Republican chief Mitch McConnell mentioned: “Thank you for having our backs. Thank you for saving our country. Thank you for not only being our friends, but our heroes.”
But exhibiting the uncooked political and emotional fallout from the riot and its aftermath, representatives of one of many medal recipients — the household of fallen officer Brian Sicknick — declined to shake arms with the Republican leaders, snubbing McConnell’s outstretched palm.
To acknowledge the tons of of officers who have been on the Capitol on Jan. 6, the medals might be positioned in 4 places — at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. In signing the laws final yr, Biden mentioned that one might be positioned on the Smithsonian museum “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.”
Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee mentioned for some officers Tuesday was their first time visiting the Capitol since that horrific day, a scene stuffed with the clanking sound of metallic metal flag poles being wielded as weapons, “the air still thick” with chemical sprays as officers have been assaulted by the mob of Trump supporters.
“Many of us still carry the mental, physical and emotional scars,” Contee mentioned.
“It was your blood, your sweat and your tears that marked these grounds,” he mentioned.
Contee mentioned the medal for town’s cops who rushed to assist their Capitol Police allies defend the dome that day was symbolic of their “contributions not just to Washington, D.C., but to the entire country on Jan. 6.”
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger referred to as it “a day unlike any other in our nation’s history. And for us. It was a day defined by chaos, courage and tragic loss.”
The ceremony on the Capitol comes as Democrats, simply weeks away from shedding their House majority, race to complete an almost 18-month investigation of the riot.
Without assist from GOP management, Democrats and simply two Republicans have led the probe and vowed to uncover the main points of the assault, which got here as Trump tried to overturn his election defeat and inspired his supporters to “fight like hell” in a rally simply earlier than the congressional certification.
Awarding the medals is amongst Pelosi’s final ceremonial acts as she prepares to step down from management. When the invoice handed the House greater than a yr in the past, she mentioned the regulation enforcement officers from throughout town defended the Capitol as a result of they have been “the type of Americans who heard the call to serve and answered it, putting country above self.”
Dozens of the officers who fought off the rioters sustained severe accidents. As the mob of Trump’s supporters pushed previous them and into the Capitol, police have been crushed with American flags and their very own weapons, dragged down stairs, sprayed with chemical substances and trampled and crushed by the group. Officers suffered bodily wounds, together with mind accidents and others with lifelong results, and plenty of struggled to work afterward as a result of they have been so traumatized.
Four officers who testified at a House listening to final yr spoke brazenly in regards to the lasting psychological and bodily scars, and a few detailed near-death experiences.
Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described foaming on the mouth, bleeding and screaming because the rioters tried to gouge out his eye and crush him between two heavy doorways. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, mentioned he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn mentioned a big group of individuals shouted the N-word at him as he was attempting to maintain them from breaching the House chamber.
At least 9 individuals who have been on the Capitol that day died throughout and after the rioting, together with a girl who was shot and killed by police as she tried to interrupt into the House chamber and three different Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two cops died by suicide within the days that instantly adopted, and a 3rd officer, Sicknick, collapsed and later died after one of many rioters sprayed him with a chemical. A medical expert decided he died of pure causes.
Several months after the assault, in August 2021, the Metropolitan Police introduced that two extra of their officers who had responded to the riot had died by suicide. The circumstances that led to their deaths have been unknown.
The June 2021 House vote to award the medals gained widespread assist from each events. But 21 House Republicans voted towards it — lawmakers who had downplayed the violence and stayed loyal to Trump. The Senate handed the laws by voice vote, with no Republican objections.
Pelosi, McConnell, House Republican chief Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attended the ceremony and awarded medals.
The Congressional Gold Medal, the very best honor Congress can bestow, has been handed out since 1776. Previous recipients embrace George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope and Robert Frost. In latest years, Congress has awarded the medals to former New Orleans Saints participant Steve Gleason, who turned a number one advocate for folks combating Lou Gehrig’s illness, and biker Greg LeMond.
Signing the invoice on the White House final yr, Biden mentioned the officers’ heroism can’t be forgotten.
The riot was a “violent attempt to overturn the will of the American people,” and Americans have to grasp what occurred, he mentioned. “The honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”