On Friday (January 6), President Joe Biden — during an event to honor law enforcement and election officials involved in the Capitol events on January 6, 2021 — relayed the incorrect date while giving his remarks.
During the event, the President honored law enforcement officers and election officials with the Presidential Citizens Medal, declaring that “history will remember” them and their courage.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is given to those who carry out “exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”
Biden continued praising those who “held the line that day,” explaining that “what was on the line was our democracy.”
He added that their bravery would be remembered, touting their “extraordinary commitments to your fellow Americans.”
Biden gave the medal to Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Arizona’s Secretary of State in 2020 Rusty Bowers, and Michael Fanone, a Metropolitan Police Department officer that was present at the January 6 attack and suffered injuries during the incident.
Biden also extended the medal to Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick — who passed one day after the attack after suffering two strokes — and Eugene Goodman, who diverted rioters from attacking Senators.
Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, accepted the medal on behalf of her son.
The President expressed that the U.S. “owes” the awards’ recipients and that they were obligated a “debt of gratitude.”
Biden explained that the country could “never fully repay unless we live up to what you did live up to.”
The President then misspoke, saying “July 6” rather than “January 6.”
