WASHINGTON, May 4: US President Joe Biden took pointed digs at election rival Donald Trump Friday as he awarded the countrys top civilian honor to Democratic allies including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and vice president Al Gore.
Biden said the veteran Pelosi had "defended democracy" during the January 6, 2021 assault on the US capitol by a mob of Trump supporters enraged by the Republicans election loss a few weeks earlier.
Gore meanwhile was "amazing" for accepting his own disputed election loss to George W. Bush in 2000 for the sake of the country, Biden said, drawing a clear contrast to Trumps refusal to accept defeat.
The comments came as 81-year-old Biden presented them with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House, whose political overtones were clear as the next US presidential election looms just six months away.
But the 19 winners also covered the fields of culture, activism and sport, including Oscar-winning Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky and, posthumously, a Black civil rights leader who was murdered in 1963.
Other prominent Democrats honored included former secretary of state John Kerry, 80, and former New York mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, 82.
Before placing the award around the neck of Pelosi, 84, Biden said that "history will remember Nancy as the greatest speaker of the House of Representatives."
"On January 6, Nancy stood in the breach and defended democracy," said Biden, who has repeatedly bashed Trump for what he says is the former presidents fueling of the Capitol assault. Pelosi also led efforts to impeach Trump over the assault.
Biden then praised Gore, 76, who served as vice president to Bill Clinton and narrowly lost the 2000 election after a Supreme Court decision, before going on to be a climate campaigner.
"After winning the popular vote, he accepted the outcome of a disputed presidential election for the sake of unity and trust in our institutions," Biden said.
"That to me was amazing what you did Al -- but I won go into that," Biden said to laughter. He often uses a similar phrase to indicate that he is referring to Trump without naming him directly.
There was also a medal for Black Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement in 2020 saved Bidens flailing campaign by securing him the support of Black voters in the South Carolina primary.
The list wasn all political.
Yeoh, 61, who in 2023 became the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar for her performance in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "continues to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture," the White House said. —AFP
