The Congressional Gold Medal ceremony was held Tuesday afternoon. It was to honor members of the Capitol Police who protected the members of Congress on January 6, 2021 as Trump supporters rioted on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, the family of Officer Brian Sidenick turned the ceremony into a political statement. It was awkward and it was too bad.

Let me say up front that I understand this is a family grieving the loss of a loved one and it is the holiday season which can magnify grief. They can say and do as they wish. This is their second holiday season without Brian. His mother, Gladys spoke up for the family after they all refused to shake the hands of Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy. They did shake the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. That was the awkward moment.

In other words, they snubbed Republican leadership because they tie McConnell and McCarthy with Trump. Granted, McCarthy was been wishy-washy on calling out Trump’s actions that day and the protesters who came into the Capitol building but he has done so. McConnell, though, never showed any support for them. He was clear from the start. And, his wife, Elaine Chao, was the Trump administration’s Secretary of Labor for all four years of Trump’s term. She resigned that day. Gladys Sidenick calls McCarthy and McConnell two-faced.

“They’re just two-faced,” Sicknick’s mother told CNN. “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 [Donald Trump’s] ring and come back and stand here and sit with – it just, it just hurts.”

It’s true that McCarthy goes to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump. McConnell, though, does not. Trump takes great pleasure in mocking both McConnell and his wife on social media when they disappoint him by not doing his bidding. Like I said, the family is entitled to think what they want to think but in this case, I think they put too much emphasis on both McConnell and McCarthy’s connection to Trump, post-presidency.

The ceremony was to honor all of the Capitol Police and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police. The Sidenick family accepted Brian’s medals. You can see Gladys give Schumer a kiss on his cheek. The family just walks past McConnell as he extends his hand to shake, and past McCarthy, as do two officers.

Gladys Sicknick, the mother of fallen officer Brian Sicknick, declines to shake hands with Republican leaders during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring Jan. 6 police. pic.twitter.com/k7cAmVVvfi

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 6, 2022

During the ceremony, Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, and McCarthy all spoke. They all expressed gratitude for the Capitol Police and the protection they received from them that day and every day at the Capitol. Unfortunately, the false narrative popped in that an officer (Sidenick) was killed during the chaos in the building. After the events of January 6, it was wrongly reported that Sidenick was hit with a fire extinguisher and the New York Times continued to perpetuate that idea in a February report that was later quietly updated a month later. Capitol Police said Sicknick “succumbed to his injuries” after defending the building. Democrats continue to repeat the false statement to this day.

Sidenick was assaulted by two protesters during the riot but coroners confirmed he died a day later from natural causes after suffering two strokes. It was all very confusing.

The truth remains that the only person killed that day was Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot in the chest by police as she tried to climb through a window near the House chamber.

Democrats want to keep January 6 on the minds of Americans because they don’t want Trump back in the White House. When asked about the slight from the Sidenick family, McConnell rose above the fray.

“Today, we gave the gold medal to the heroes of January 6. 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 6,” the Senate Republican leader said at his weekly press conference.

The January 6 committee was a partisan exercise for the benefits of Democrats and two useful idiots from the Republican Party, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. McCarthy will disband it when he takes over in January. The general public never really was interested in its hearings. Voters look forward, not backwards. While the Gold Medal ceremony was happening, Rep. Bennie Thompson was holding a press briefing.

The event came just as Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who has chaired the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection (including Trump’s role) was confirming to reporters that “we’ve made decisions that we will make referrals” to the Justice Department related to the investigation.

“We have not made a decision as to who, but we have made decisions that criminal referrals will happen,” Thompson said Tuesday.

January 6 was an ugly day. The aftermath is still being felt on Capitol Hill.