Liz Cheney, Trump target, receives presidential medal from Biden

President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the country's second highest civilian award, to former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who led the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Cheney, who represented Wyoming three terms before losing here seat in to a Republican challenger in 2022, was one of President-elect Donald Trump’s fiercest critics in Congress. She is among lawmakers tied to the Jan. 6 investigation whom Trump has said should be jailed. Her name has been frequently floated as a candidate for a pre-emptive pardon from Biden.

"I think it's pretty simple. Our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship," Biden said at a White House ceremony, adding that democracy depends on our "willingness to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow Americans."

"Cheney has raised her voice ? and reached across the aisle ? to defend our Nation and the ideals we stand for: Freedom. Dignity. And decency," the White House said in a statement earlier Thursday.

Cheney, who served as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, had campaigned vigorously for Biden and later for Vice President Kamala Harris when she became the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

Thompson, of Mississippi, chaired the Jan. 6 committee, serving "at the forefront of defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and a steadfast commitment to truth," the White House said.

Trump said Cheney and Thompson should 'go to jail'

Cheney is a daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. She voted for Trump in 2020 and turned against him after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Last month, Trump told NBC's “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” that leaders of the Jan. 6 committee had “lied” and “should go to jail.”

“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” Trump said.

Cheney and Thompson were among 20 awards recipients include Americans who fought for marriage equality, an Army nurse who served during the Vietnam War, a war correspondent and longtime lawmakers who are Biden’s close friends.

The medal is awarded to citizens who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House said.

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

Other recipients included Mary L. Bonauto, an attorney and activist who fought to legalize same sex marriage in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. She then argued before the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality as the law of the land.

Biden also honored his longtime friends, former Delware Sen. Ted Kaufman and former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

Other award recipients include former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, two-time NBA Champion and Hall-of-Fame New York Knick; Diane Carson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War, who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation, and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas in the Senate.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden gave Liz Cheney Presidential Citizens Medal