US President Biden awards presidential medal to Trump critic Liz Cheney

A total of 20 recipients were honoured, including two who had investigated the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Outgoing President Joe Biden has awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian honour in the United States, to members of a congressional committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A total of 20 honourees were recognised in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.

Among them were an activist who campaigned to legalise same-sex marriage in the US, a military doctor who improved battlefield trauma care, and a civil rights leader who laid the groundwork for desegregation.

“ The most important title in America is not president but citizen. It is ‘We the people,'” Biden said, quoting the preamble to the US Constitution. “ These are the words of the rock upon which this entire nation has been built.”

But a couple of the former legislators honoured were explicitly praised for their work on a committee in the House of Representatives charged with probing the January 6 attack.