President Trump is expected to award Reps. Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, two Republican allies, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The plan is coming together less than three weeks before Inauguration Day, when President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office, although Trump refuses to concede defeat.
A Republican source confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Nunes, who represents California’s 22nd Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley, is expected to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor on Monday. Trump’s public schedule, released Sunday evening, made no mention of a ceremony.
Jordan, a Republican who hails from Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, is expected to get the medal on Jan. 11, another GOP source said.
Nunes, as the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and Jordan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, have both been outspoken critics of the Justice Department and FBI’s conduct surrounding the Russia investigation which Trump dubbed a “witch hunt.”
They also defended Trump during impeachment proceedings, after which the Senate acquitted the president. In addition, Jordan is one of the House members spearheading a GOP effort in Congress to object to the presidential election results on Jan. 6.
The Washington Post was the first to report that Trump planned to give Nunes and Jordan the medal. Trump first suggested in public that Nunes should get the medal in 2018.
Others who have received the Medal of Freedom include Steven Spielberg, Muhammad Ali, Angela Merkel, Nancy Reagan, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr., according to the White House website.
