- January 5, 2025
Messi, Hillary Clinton, George Soros Awarded Presidential Medal Of Freedom By Biden – News18
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Others who received the prestigious award included singer-activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actor Denzel Washington.
Alex Soros, son of philanthropist George Soros receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of his father. (AFP)
Joe Biden on Saturday awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 honorees, bestowing the highest civilian honour in the United States on entertainers, sports stars, activists and diplomats including Jane Goodall and Hillary Clinton.
Among those receiving honours from the outgoing US president were singer and activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J. Fox, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Posthumous recipients included Fannie Lou Hamer, a Black civil rights activist.
In a White House ceremony, Biden praised the group of “truly extraordinary people who gave their sacred effort — their sacred effort — to shape the culture and the cause of America.”
Others honoured in this year’s crop were chef Jose Andres, founder of the World Central Kitchen NGO, and primate researcher Goodall, a leading environmentalist voice.
Some of the recipients selected by the Democrat have a more political profile.
Today, I had the honor of bestowing the Medal of Freedom – our nation’s highest civilian honor – on a group of extraordinary people who have given their sacred effort to shape the culture and cause of America. pic.twitter.com/tOAHzlbC3R— President Biden (@POTUS) January 5, 2025
Clinton is a former first lady, senator and US secretary of state, and unsuccessfully ran against Donald Trump for the presidency in 2016.
She was honoured for having “made history many times over decades in public service,” including being the first woman nominated by a major party for a US presidential run, the White House said in a statement.
Also honoured was billionaire financier and left-wing philanthropist George Soros, whose award was accepted by his son Alexander.
Soros was honoured because he “has supported organisations, and projects across the world that strengthen democracy, human rights, education and social justice.”
Posthumous Award For RFK
Biden also chose to posthumously award a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Robert F. Kennedy.
Kennedy served as US attorney general while his brother John F. Kennedy was president, and was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“His legacy continues to inspire those committed to justice, equality and public service,” Biden said in a statement ahead of the presentation.
Kennedy’s son RFK Jr. is a vaccine skeptic who has been tapped by president-elect Donald Trump to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services.
Biden’s selections for the Medal of Freedom illustrate a desire to leave one final mark before leaving office.
Also among recipients was former Michigan governor and US housing secretary George Romney, the father of Mitt Romney, one of the few Republican senators who in 2021 voted to convict Trump after he was impeached for inciting an insurrection.
On Thursday, in a slight to Trump, Biden awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming who sat on the house panel investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol.
Trump expressed his indignation at the move Friday, calling Cheney, a daughter of former US vice president Dick Cheney, “totally corrupt” and writing on Truth Social that “Biden rewarded her only because she hated “‘TRUMP.'”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
- Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
