Pres. Biden awards Presidential Citizens Medal to officers who defended Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021

(ABC 6 News) – President Joe Biden on Friday presented the nation’s second-highest civilian award to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election.

The White House announced on Thursday that Biden will present the Presidential Citizens Medal during an East Room ceremony marking the second anniversary of the assault on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump whose siege interrupted the congressional certification of Biden’s victory.

Among those being honored are seven members of law enforcement, including a posthumous award to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the attack, and an award to Officer Eugene Goodman who was credited with directing rioters away from the Senate floor while lawmakers were evacuating the building.

Also being honored are two other Capitol Police officers, Harry Dunn and Caroline Edwards; Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell; Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges and a former officer, Michael Fanone.

Biden is also recognizing Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, and Rusty Bowers, a former Arizona House speaker, who resisted pressure to overturn the election results; and Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, who were subjected to threats and harassment after ensuring votes in the county were properly tabulated.

An award is going to Al Schmidt, a former Philadelphia election official who faced public pressure by Trump to stop counting valid ballots. Schmidt, a Republican, will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania, secretary of state, by Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.

The Presidential Citizens Medal, created by President Richard Nixon in 1969, is the country’s second-highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded to those who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

Earlier Friday morning, lawmakers delivered remarks on the steps of the U.S. Capitol marking two years since the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Names of the fallen officers were read and a moment of silence was also held.