Hailed as heroes, the law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack were honored with Congressional Gold Medals -- Congress' highest honor -- and praised for securing democracy when they fought off a brutal and bloody attack by supporters of then-President Trump.
To recognize the hundreds of officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the medals will be placed in four locations - at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. In signing the legislation last year, Biden said that one will be placed at the Smithsonian museum "so all visitors can understand what happened that day.
"Exhausted and injured, it was your blood, your sweat and your tears that marked these grounds," he said. Without support from GOP leadership, Democrats led the bipartisan probe with two Republicans and vowed to uncover the details of the attack, which came as Trump tried to overturn his election defeat and encouraged his supporters to "fight like hell" in a rally just before the congressional certification.
Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described foaming at the mouth, bleeding and screaming as the rioters tried to gouge out his eye and crush him between two heavy doors. At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that immediately followed.
The June 2021 House vote to award the medals won widespread support from both parties. But 21 House Republicans voted against it - lawmakers who had downplayed the violence and stayed loyal to Trump. The Senate passed the legislation by voice vote, with no Republican objections.
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