Senior law enforcement leaders and family members of a
police officer who died as a result of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US
Capital ignored the Republican leaders at Tuesday’s Congressional Gold Medal
award ceremony for Capitol police who defended against the attacks.

Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin
McCarthy presented the officers with Congressional Gold Medals, Congress’s
highest honor. During the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, the leaders stood in
a line to greet the medal recipients, including the parents of officer Brian
Sicknick, who died after a mob attacked the Capital building and forced politicians
to run for their lives.

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Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, was caught on
video with his hand outstretched, waiting in line for handshakes that never
came. The police officers and Sicknick family could be seen in video shaking
hands with Pelosi and Schumer and simply walking past McConnell and McCarthy.

The duo was called as “two-faced” by Gladys Sicknick, mother
of Brian Sicknick. The GOP leader’s commitment to promoting Donald Trump’s
false narratives about the insurrection that led to her son’s death have taken
priority over assisting the some 140 law enforcement officers injured during
the attack.

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“They’re just two-faced. I’m just tired of them standing
there and saying how wonderful the Capitol Police is, and they turn around and
… go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring,” Sicknick’s mother said.

Sicknick’s brother Ken Sicknick said, “They have no idea
what integrity is. They can’t stand up for what’s right and wrong.”

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McCarthy and McConnell were avid Trump supporters while he
was in office. They have failed to publicly take a strong chance on his involvement
in January 6. However, they both condemned the riot and have been careful to
avoid implicating Trump directly. McCarthy has also refused to comply with subpoena
from the House select committee probing the attack. McConnell voted to acquit
Trump during his historic second impeachment for involvement in the insurrection.

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Last summer, Congress voted to award the medals. The
proposal unanimously in the State, 21 House Republicans voted against it. The medals
will be displayed in the US Capital Police headquarters, the Metropolitan
Police Department, the Capiol, and the Smithsonian Institution to recognise
officers who attempted to intercept the attack by Donald Trump supporters.