Biden is giving the 2nd highest civilian award to the leaders of the Jan. 6 congressional committee
Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2025, 06:11 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
Updated 7:25 AM EST, January 2, 2025
President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry.
Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president’s longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.” Biden last year honored people who were involved in defending the Capitol from a mob of angry Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, or who helped safeguard the will of American voters during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump tried and failed to overturn the results.
Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, and Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, led the House committee that investigated the insurrection. The committee’s final report asserted that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the election he lost to Biden and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol. Thompson wrote that Trump “lit that fire.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-citizens-medals-jan-6-cheney-thompson-f725b7003ea11239b90962a8cf0d5305
White House ANNOUNCEMENT - President Biden Announces Recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal
The ABC News article had the list (extracted below) and I expect WhiteHouse.gov will post the info soon -
Bill Bradley
Frank K. Butler, Jr.
Elizabeth L. Cheney
Christopher J. Dodd
Diane Carlson Evans
Joseph L. Galloway (posthumous)
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
Ted Kaufman
Carolyn McCarthy
Louis Lorenzo Redding (posthumous)
Bobby Sager
Collins J. Seitz (posthumous)
Eleanor Smeal
Bennie G. Thompson
Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi (posthumous)
Thomas J. Vallely
Frances M. Visco
Paula S. Wallace
Evan Wolfson
= new reply since forum marked as read
She's proud of the work the commitee did and of her part in it. She made that very clear in the book she wrote about it. The Fox crowd and the MAGAT wing of the GOP have been screaming for her blood for years now, so that's nothing new for her. I think she'll be there with bells on.
EDITED TO ADD: I also expect that.she'll appreciate what a symbolic giant middle finger to Trump this is and quietly savor that aspect of it! 
There was a year, and all the time of the 2020 election to present, and he did little to nothing, BUT they did a lot of investigation to make sure it was not antifa.
You do realize that Bill Barr was the AG during "all the time of the 2020 election". 
I have been posting what WAS done over and over but the chorus drowns it out. The latest time was here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3315510
I also included the Fani Willis timeline which started before Garland was even nominated -
From here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3243366
By Glenn Thrush and Adam Goldman
Reporting from Washington
Published March 22, 2024 Updated March 27, 2024
After being sworn in as attorney general in March 2021, Merrick B. Garland gathered his closest aides to discuss a topic too sensitive to broach in bigger groups: the possibility that evidence from the far-ranging Jan. 6 investigation could quickly lead to former President Donald J. Trump and his inner circle. At the time, some in the Justice Department were pushing for the chance to look at ties between pro-Trump rioters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, his allies who had camped out at the Willard Hotel, and possibly Mr. Trump himself.
Mr. Garland said he would place no restrictions on their work, even if the “evidence leads to Trump,” according to people with knowledge of several conversations held over his first months in office. “Follow the connective tissue upward,” said Mr. Garland, adding a directive that would eventually lead to a dead end: “Follow the money.” With that, he set the course of a determined and methodical, if at times dysfunctional and maddeningly slow, investigation that would yield the indictment of Mr. Trump on four counts of election interference in August 2023.
(snip)
People around Mr. Garland, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Justice Department affairs, say there would be no case against Mr. Trump had Mr. Garland not acted decisively. And any perception that the department had made Mr. Trump a target from the outset, without exploring other avenues, would have doomed the investigation. “Don’t confuse thoughtful with unduly cautious,” said a former deputy attorney general, Jamie S. Gorelick, who sent Mr. Garland, then her top aide, to oversee the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. “He was fearless. You could see it then, and you could see it when he authorized the search at Mar-a-Lago.”
Mr. Garland’s allies point to how, by the summer of 2021, the attorney general and his powerful deputy, Lisa O. Monaco, were so frustrated with the pace of the work that they created a team to investigate Trump allies who gathered at the Willard Hotel ahead of Jan. 6 — John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Roger J. Stone Jr. — and possible connections to the Trump White House, according to former officials. That team would lay the groundwork for the investigation that Mr. Smith would take over as special counsel a year and a half later. But a host of factors, some in Mr. Garland’s control, others not, slowed things down.
(snip)
Much more... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/politics/trump-jan-6-merrick-garland.html
No paywall (gift link)
In GA, Fani Willis won her election to be Fulton County, GA D.A. in Nov. 2020 and took office in Jan. 2021. About a month or so later she began the investigation in her RICO case.
(snip)
Feb. 10, 2021
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis notifies Kemp that her office has launched an investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
The letter asked state officials to preserve any documents potentially related to the 2020 general election, "with particular care given to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of persons who were administering" it, which would include Trump's phone call with Raffensperger.
Jan. 20, 2022
Willis requests to seat a special grand jury in her probe, according to a letter obtained by ABC News. In the letter to Fulton County Chief Judge Christopher Brasher, Willis wrote that the move is needed because "a significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony."
(snip)
July 11, 2023
Based on the findings of the special grand jury, Willis empanels a new grand jury to weight possible election-related charges against Trump.
(snip)
And one month after the above, on Aug. 15, 2023, Willis announced her indictments - Trump and 18 allies charged in Georgia election meddling as former president faces 4th criminal case
I will ask again what I asked in September but updated for today -
QUESTION
Today is January 2, 2025. Where is her case and why isn't 45 in state prison in Georgia?
ANSWER
The JUDGE tossed out some charges - Judge tosses more counts against Trump and others in Georgia election case, 32 counts remain and Willis has been removed from the case.
Point being as I have said over and over - the JUDICIARY is holding up ALL of the criminal cases (whether for trial or for sentencing), and that goes for BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE CASES.
Repeating the falsity over and over as DU keeps doing, does nothing but to salve anger about things outside of our control.
I suppose you missed the "arrests" that happened when he was indicted (and this was done 4 times - twice for state criminal charges and twice for federal charges)?
The problem is that some on DU had a fantasy of what happens when someone is "arrested" and if it's not done the way they fantasize about, then it "didn't happen".
NEWSFLASH - 45 was ARRESTED AND CHARGED 4 times for CRIMINAL violations -
ONCE in NY for state charges
WHERE A JURY CONVICTED HIM
ONCE in GA for state charges (the only time when a "mugshot" was taken that was RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC)-
ONCE in FL for federal charges
ONCE in D.C for federal charges
There is is this bizarre belief that he was never "charged" and never "arrested" I guess because there was a desire to have a TV-show style "perp walk".
All 4 times, he was "arrested" and "finger-printed" but it wasn't shown on tevee.
As I endlessly post - the JUDICIARY (which yes, included the SCOTUS) has BLOCKED these cases - both state and federal. In the case of NY, the sentencing kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed by a judge.
The PROSECUTORS (Bragg, Willis, Smith) did their jobs and the courts halted moving beyond certain phases of the cases.
The COURTS wouldn't even let DOJ's 2 FEDERAL CASES against 45 get to trial. That doesn't mean that he "wasn't charged" and "wasn't arrested". He was.
And you do realize that Gaetz was ORIGINALLY investigated by Bill Barr, right?
https://apnews.com/article/trump-attorney-general-matt-gaetz-justice-department-9d51501fb6ad5c04b5b4113d3a6a584b
It ended due to problems with co-conspirators and witnesses -
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/politics/matt-gaetz-justice-department/index.html
I.e., there was a concern that Gaetz would be acquitted due to the credibility of the witnesses.
I think all of us agree with that but the REALITY is that it's not the fault of the workers but the fault of the monied interests (and Congress) that allows someone to have "the best due process that money can buy".
ETA - Just saw this - South Korean investigators abandon effort to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol so no "South Korea (style) arrest".
How are "prosecutors", whether at the state level or federal level, any different (functionally)?
Seriously. They are NOT and the "judiciary", whether "state" or "federal" do the same things.
This is the total bizarre disconnect that I see happening with these types of arguments.
BOTTOM LINE
State judges CAN AND DO "block and/or delay" state prosecutions and federal judges CAN AND DO "block and/or delay" federal prosecutions. PERIOD. This is what happened.
You do know, or maybe forgot, that Mar-a-Lago actually had the boxes of classified documents (and other government items) SEIZED BEFORE Jack Smith was appointed, right?
Mon Aug 8, 2022, 06:02 PM
(CNN)The FBI executed a search warrant on Monday at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of an investigation into the handling of presidential documents, including classified documents, that may have been brought to Florida, three people familiar with the situation say.
Trump confirmed that FBI agents were at Mar-a-Lago and said "they even broke into my safe." "My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," he said in a statement Monday evening. The former President was not in Florida at the time that the search warrant was executed.
The search began early Monday morning and law enforcement personnel appeared to be focused on the area of the club where Trump's offices and personal quarters are, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Justice Department declined to comment to CNN, as did the White House. A White House official said it was not notified about the search. CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment.
The Justice Department has two known active investigations connected to the former President, one on the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and January 6, 2021, and the other involving the handling of classified documents. The National Archives, charged with collecting and sorting presidential material, has previously said at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort -- including some that were classified. In April and May, aides to Trump at Mar-a-Lago were interviewed by the FBI as part of the probe into the handling of presidential records, according to a source familiar with the matter.
A few days after the above, this came out -
That's a whole lot of SOMETHING to be considered as "nothing was done". Literally months and months of "something" before Jack Smith was appointed and the REASON was listed for WHY a SC was needed.-
Fri Nov 18, 2022, 01:29 PM
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday named former federal prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel for two ongoing criminal investigations by the Department of Justice of former President Donald Trump.
Smith’s appointment came three days after Trump, a Republican, announced plans to run for president in 2024. Trump’s move directly led to Garland’s decison to appoint a special counsel, who will recommend whether criminal charges should be lodged against the ex-president.
The attorney general himself was appointed by Biden, a Democrat who defeated Trump in his 2020 re-election bid. Biden could again face Trump again in the 2024 election, although the president has not yet made a final decision on becoming a candidate.
The first investigation that Smith will begin immediately handling is looking into whether any person, including Trump, unlawfully interferred with the transfer of presidential power following the 2020 election, or the certification of the Electoral College vote in President Joe Biden’s favor on Jan. 6, 2021.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/18/attorney-general-merrick-garland-to-name-special-counsel-in-trump-criminal-probe-report-says.html
It's called having "the best 'due process' that money can buy" along with -
having appointed 1/3rd of the judges on the SCOTUS having his appointment of Loose Cannon as a District judge confirmed, literally as he was going out the door in December 2020 having appointed 1/2 of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judges (which covers District Courts in Florida).
What people don't understand about the federal government and DOJ is that DOJ is the law firm for federal agencies that have no enforcement authority. But each federal agency has their own process, like we saw with NARA and those documents, where they go through their own internal procedure to gain compliance BEFORE they call in DOJ to go to court to force compliance.
I say this as a retired, 30+ year fed who worked with DOJ during my career when we needed enforcement actions done like seizures, injunctions, consent decrees, etc.
and procedures because this IS WHAT makes a fair and free country, but we have insiders that are willing to be bias and use these policies and procedures to exploit loopholes and time clocks. I appreciate your service and I am by no means hating on federal workers or the government. I love our institutions, I hate criminal exploits from bad actors inside and out.
I think Jack Smith, Fani Willis, Leticia James and all the others that busted their butts for justice and the American people are amazing heroes, but our institutions let US ALL down at this critical point in our country's history.
Merrick Garland going to Federalist Society events was political enough for me to say he is bias, and did not do enough.
We have an insurrectionist Hell bent on revenge in a couple weeks taking the office of the President with our arsenal of weapons. I'm concerned for my country and the world.
Thank you for all the information you've shared. Take Care.
As you might know, there are whole demographic groups - notably POC - who have been yelling about "criminal justice reform" for literally centuries. Now the world is seeing what we have been trying to get addressed.
The "justice system" has been a farce from day one and it's the luck of the draw how things will turn out (unless you can fork up enough $$$).
I think this whole "Federalist Society" thing has morphed into something that it isn't. He is not a member but apparently served as a moderator for some of their (and other group's) panel discussions. I know CPSAN shows all kinds of panel discussions on various topics related to politics, etc., and notably will show The National Press Club events, as well as those given by all the political think tanks. As a CSPAN junky, I have watched I don't know how many of these types of discussions and you usually have several panelists from different institutions addressing some topic, and then you have the person who introduces the panelists and shepherds the program along. which is apparently the role that he played.
You don't have to tell me that. It is frustrating as hell. But some of us are used to being the "bottom of the totem pole", normally the first ones oppressed and always forced to try to warn people about what is going on but are ignored... This country has come a long way and that is partially why you see the "backlash" because it was "too much" for TPTB and they are trying to get their mojo back by wrecking havoc on everyone around them.
Thanks for reading and hope you have a good rest of the evening!
Criminal enterprise leader. Haven't they learned from us.
