The Patriot Post® · Biden's Last-Minute Pardons and Awards Extravaganza

Last month, after issuing a pardon¹ for Hunter Biden², despite repeatedly promising he would never do that because “No one is above the law,” Joe Biden³ then, just before Christmas, commuted the sentences of 1,499 people and pardoned another 39 convicts⁴ to bury the news cycle about the corrupt pardon favor for his son.

That was followed by commuting the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates, some being the most evil people⁵ in federal custody. Biden began the New Year commuting another 2,500 sentences⁶.

Over the last four years, Biden has now issued pardons and clemencies to more than 10,500 criminals⁷, and as he proudly declared, “more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history.” (For context, Donald Trump⁸ issued a total of 237 pardons and clemencies in his first term.)

Biden has also issued a flood of last-minute executive orders and other actions⁹ to further degrade our nation, and he followed that with an award/medal lollapalooza. The medals were primarily “participation trophies” for his most loyal political hacks, mixed in with some awards to worthy recipients to give legitimacy to the rest.

Most notable among those worthy of recognition would be the Medal of Valor and Medal of Honor recipients he squeezed in between his Presidential “Citizen” and “Freedom” medals.

There were 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal¹⁰, our nation’s second-highest civilian award (under the Presidential Medal of Freedom).

Predictably, leading that list of mostly leftist political cronies¹¹ were the two protagonists of his J6¹² political charade, the recently defeated¹³ former Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS).

Incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) protested: “Biden was either going to pardon Liz Cheney or give her an award. She doesn’t deserve either. She represents partisanship and divisiveness, not Wyoming.”

Biden has so far forgotten to preemptively pardon Cheney, who is likely to find herself the subject of a criminal corruption investigation¹⁴ by the next Congress for witness tampering, among other charges. Of course, a preemptive pardon could still be forthcoming.

According to a White House statement: “The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Some on the list generally met that qualification, though tens of thousands of other Americans also do. Most received the award because they met the Demos’ political agenda qualification.

A day later, to distract from the howls of protests about dispensing presidential political trophies to Cheney and Thompson, Biden announced far more deserving award recipients — albeit last minute, as if an afterthought.

There were eight recipients of the Medal of Valor and “far above and beyond,” there were seven Medal of Honor¹⁵ recipients.

Five of the Valor Medal recipients¹⁶, as recommended by Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland¹⁷, were the first responding officers to the March 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, during which six were murdered by a sociopathic “transgender” woman¹⁸ who targeted Christians. Notably, that incident was never declared a “hate crime¹⁹.”

These officers are all worthy recipients, but they were elevated because this incident was used by Biden et al. as fodder²⁰ for his gun control agenda²¹, and it was used to launch a red state gun control Trojan Horse²² template for that agenda.

I am certain that all of these officers would acknowledge that there have been countless other first responders over Biden’s last four years who have put their lives at immediate risk when saving others. That would include responding officers who killed the Islamist terrorist responsible for the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans²³ last week.

Notably, the Nashville police response stands in stark contrast to the failure of police to adequately respond to the May 2022 assault on Robb Elementary School²⁴ in Uvalde, Texas, in which another deranged sociopath murdered 21 people. Notably, the Uvalde PD chief and a former officer were subsequently indicted on criminal negligence charges²⁵ for not following protocols, which, according to the charges, resulted in many more deaths at the school. (Just a reminder, despite the unprecedented surge of violence²⁶ unleashed by Biden and his Democrat agitators, children are still much safer on school campuses²⁷ than anywhere else outside their homes.)

The other Medals of Valor went to an officer who risked his life to save a woman from drowning, a firefighter who saved a mother and child from a burning apartment, and another firefighter who saved two people from a burning building.

Friday afternoon, Biden awarded seven Medals of Honor²⁸ (six posthumously), almost doubling the number of recipients over the last four years. All of these recipients met every standard for receiving our nation’s highest award for Valor, but it was highly unusual that there was no advance announcement of these recipients — indicative of the general state of chaos in the Biden White House in recent months.

Announcements about Medal of Honor¹⁵ recipients are generally released a week in advance of the ceremony. It is disgraceful that Biden did not appropriately schedule individual ceremonies over the last four years in order to give these recipients and their families due honor and respect. Surely, if honoring these recipients and, by extension, all active-duty military personnel and Veterans was a priority, he could have set aside two hours out of seven of his 532 days off²⁹ (almost 40%³⁰ of his presidency) to honor these men.

We will provide upcoming Profiles of Valor³¹ on these most recent recipients: Private Bruno R. Orig³², February 15, 1951, Korea; Private First Class Wataru Nakamura³³, May 18, 1951, Korea; Corporal Fred B. McGee³⁴, June 16, 1952, Korea; Private First Class Charles R. Johnson³⁵, June 11-12, 1953, Korea; First Lieutenant Richard E. Cavazos³⁶, June 14-15, 1953, Korea; Captain Hugh R. Nelson, Jr.³⁷, June 5, 1966, Vietnam; and Private First Class Kenneth J. David³⁸, May 7, 1970, Vietnam.

Notably, there is still a backlog of worthy Medal of Honor recipients who have yet to be recognized. Hopefully, Donald Trump⁸ will ensure they are duly awarded once he returns to office.

Finally, bookending the Medals of Valor and Medals of Honor, on Saturday, Biden handed out 19 Presidential Medals of Freedom³⁹, our nation’s highest civilian honor. Some went to worthy candidates who have actually “made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” But others went to those who have been major funders or advocates of his leftist agenda.

Among the worthy recipients, I would include historical philanthropist David Rubenstein and actor/cultural advocate Denzel Washington.

But as with the inclusion of Citizens Medal politicos Cheney and Thompson, Biden disgracefully included⁴⁰ Hillary Clinton⁴¹ and billionaire leftist George Soros⁴² on his list of most prominent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients.

Of Soros, Biden said⁴³: “Born into a Jewish family in Hungary, George Soros escaped Nazi occupation to build a life of freedom for himself and countless others around the world. … His inspiring generosity reminds us all of our capacity and our obligation to stand up to the abuse of power and to be guardians of democracy and all people yearning to be free.”

Soros leads the socialist pack of “America Last” haters of all that is good and right about America. He relentlessly advocates for centralized government power and the systemic suppression of freedom⁴⁴. He is among the largest Demo megadonors and, as such, a paragon of those who stand in abject opposition to American Liberty⁴⁵. Soros and his so-called Open Society Foundations have funneled hundreds of millions⁴⁶ of dollars into Democrat initiatives and elections.

As for giving this award to Hillary Clinton for her “decades in public service,” there is not enough bandwidth to fully object to this political trophy for her long track record of domestic and foreign policy malfeasance. She and Barack Obama⁴⁷ gave rise to the Islamic State⁴⁸, and I doubt Biden checked in with the families of those slain at Benghazi⁴⁹ before dolling out this award.