OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Two Georgia women who found themselves at the center of a major 2020 election controversy that swung in their favor were honored by President Joe Biden last week along with about a dozen other people to mark the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol Building riot.
On Friday, Biden honored poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who both received the Presidential Citizens Medal. The pair were accused of taking part in a vote fraud scheme in Fulton County, accused of hiding suitcases full of ballots underneath a table where they worked. A subsequent investigation cleared them of any wrongdoing, though they were removed from their positions while the probe progressed.
During the ceremony, Biden praised the two women and the group in general, but got the date wrong — “July 6th.”
BREAKING: Joe Biden calls January 6th, “July 6th”
What a joke 😂
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 6, 2023
“A violent mob of insurrectionists assaulted law enforcement, vandalized sacred halls, hunted down elected officials — all for the purpose of attempting to overthrow the will of the people and usurp the peaceful transfer of power,” the president said, according to a White House transcript of his comments.
“All of it — all of it was fueled by lies about the 2020 election. But on this day two years ago, our democracy held because “we the people,” as the Constitution refers to us, we the people did not flinch,” Biden added.
He also honored several Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers, as well as five civilians who included Albert Schmidt, a city commissioner on the Philadelphia County Board of Elections, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers.
The AP reported in October 2021 that the two women were cleared:
Investigators in Georgia haven’t found any evidence to substantiate claims that fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in Fulton County during the 2020 general election, according to a court filing.
Lawyers with the state attorney general’s office on Tuesday filed a response brief that details investigative steps taken in response to the claims.
The brief filed Tuesday on behalf of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger addresses allegations made in sworn affidavits filed with the lawsuit that say witnesses saw suspicious-looking absentee ballots during a hand count of ballots that stemmed from a state audit requirement.
“Based upon the witness statements and examination of approximately 1,000 absentee ballots and ballot images, the Secretary’s investigators have not uncovered any absentee ballots that match the descriptions given … or otherwise appear to be fraudulent or counterfeit,” the brief said.
On the first anniversary of the riot, Biden attacked his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, and accused him of being unable to accept his loss.
Speaking from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on the anniversary of the incident, Biden claimed Trump pushed a “web of lies” about the 2020 election because he could not accept his defeat.
Below is a transcript of his remarks:
And the whole world saw with our own eyes. The Bible tells us that we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. We shall know the truth. Well, here is the God’s truth about January 6th, 2021. Close your eyes. Go back to that day. What do you see? Rioters rampaging, waving, for the first time inside this Capitol, Confederate flag that symbolized the cause to destroy America, to rip us apart. Even during the Civil War, that never, ever happened.
But it happened here in 2021. What else do you see? A mob breaking windows, kicking in doors, breaching the Capitol, American flags on poles being used as weapons, as spears, fire extinguishers being thrown at the heads of police officers. A crowd that professes their love for law enforcement assaulted those police officers, dragged them, sprayed them, stomped on them. Over 140 police officers were injured. We all heard the police officers who were there that day testify to what happened. One officer called it, quote, a medieval battle, and that he was more afraid that day than he was fighting the war in Iraq.
They’ve repeatedly asked since that day, how dare anyone, anyone diminish, belittle or deny the hell they were put through? We saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House, literally erecting gallows to hang the Vice President of the United States of America.
What did we not see? We didn’t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, the nation’s capital under siege. This wasn’t a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection. They weren’t looking to uphold the will of the people. They were looking to deny the will of the people.
