According to the District’s chief medical examiner, Sicknick died of natural causes one day after suffering two strokes while confronting members of the violent mob that attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“They’re just two-faced,” she told CNN on Tuesday following the awards ceremony. “I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol police is and then they turn around and go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring and come back.”
“It just, it just hurts,” Sicknick added.
Republicans and Democrats gathered Tuesday to award Congressional Gold Medals — the highest honor from Congress — to all law enforcement who protected lawmakers while defending the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, including members of the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police.
About 140 members of law enforcement were injured as rioters attacked them with flagpoles, baseball bats, stun guns, bear spray and pepper spray.
After family members received the medals, they shook hands with Democratic leaders — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Gladys Sicknick received a kiss from Schumer. The family members ignored an extended hand from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and walked past House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
A spokesman for McCarthy had no immediate comment. McConnell, questioned about the incident Tuesday afternoon, focused on the officers and the awards.
“I would respond by saying today we gave the gold medal to the heroes of January 6th,” he told reporters. “We admire and respect them. They laid their lives on the line and that’s why we gave a gold medal today to the heroes of January 6th.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol to try to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes affirming Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
In the immediate aftermath, McConnell and McCarthy condemned the attack and indicated that Trump was to blame. But weeks later, McCarthy refused to vote to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection and McConnell voted to acquit Trump after a Senate trial.
McCarthy later traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.
Sicknick’s family lobbied Congress to establish an independent commission to investigate the attack. McCarthy opposed creation of the panel and, in the Senate, all Republicans banded together in opposition. Pelosi and Democrats went ahead in creating a bipartisan committee to investigate, though McCarthy refused to cooperate.
After the ceremony, Ken Sicknick, the late officer’s brother, said his refusal to shake hands with the Republican leaders was “self-explanatory” given their fealty to Trump.
“Whatever hold Trump has on them, they’ve back-stepped, they’ve danced,” he told CBS. “They won’t admit to wrongdoing of Trump, of the rioters.”
Last week, Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the Capitol, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project, which is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government.
“It’s disgusting,” Sicknick said about Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), who presented Simone Gold, a rioter, with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol after her release from prison. “It takes away the heroism my brother…
Read More: Family of Jan. 6 police officer declines GOP leaders’ handshakes at ceremony
