President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, billionaire Democratic megadonor George Soros and several other others at a White Home ceremony on Saturday.
The White Home mentioned Clinton, Soros and the 17 different recipients of the celebrated award are “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.”
“President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else,” the White Home mentioned in an announcement. “These nineteen Americans are great leaders who have made America a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”
Soros, 94, has been one of the prolific fundraisers for the Democratic Celebration in current historical past.
The Hungarian-born hedge-fund billionaire gave greater than $175 million to Democrats through the 2022 midterms, in line with Federal Election Fee data.
In 2024, Soros funneled one other $60 million for Home and Senate Democrats and different left-wing causes by his Democracy PAC, data present.
Soros, who has shifted tens of billions of {dollars} of his private web price over to his Open Society Foundations, which funds a mess of progressive tasks all over the world, has additionally closely invested in races to put in far-left district attorneys in main American cities.
Soros-backed DAs, together with Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg and Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, have been criticized by Republicans for pursuing priorities comparable to legal justice reform over prosecuting criminals.
The left-wing investor has additionally come beneath fireplace for funneling tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to teams supporting anti-Israel protesters on faculty campuses.
The White Home described Soros as “a philanthropist who four decades ago founded the Open Society Foundations” and “through his network of foundations … has supported organizations, and projects across the world that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice.”
Clinton, 77, can be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom almost 12 years after her husband, former President Invoice Clinton, was bestowed the honour by former President Barack Obama.
The previous first girl, secretary of state and New York senator “made history many times over decades in public service,” the White Home mentioned.
In 2016, Clinton made historical past when she grew to become the primary lady nominated for president by a significant United States political social gathering.
Her bid to grow to be the nation’s first feminine president got here up quick when President-elect Donald Trump defeated her within the 2016 race.
Clinton was the topic of an FBI probe over her use of a non-public electronic mail server throughout her time within the Obama administration however was by no means charged with against the law.
On the conclusion of the bureau’s investigation, former FBI Director James Comey mentioned that Clinton and her colleagues have been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” however that the FBI “did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information.”
Biden, 82, may even award medals to a number of Hollywood A-listers, celebrity athletes and American cultural icons at Saturday’s ceremony, together with:
- Bono, the frontman of rock band U2
- Michael J. Fox, the “Back to the Future” star
- Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a Los Angeles Lakers legend
- Ralph Lauren, the visionary designer
- Lionel Messi, the MLS star and captain of Argentina’s World Cup-winning soccer crew
- Denzel Washington, the Academy-Award-winning actor
- Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue
- William Sanford Nye, the tv presenter higher referred to as “Invoice Nye the Science Man
- Robert Francis Kennedy, the slain former New York senator and US Lawyer Normal
- Jane Goodall, the famend primatologist and anthropologist
- David M. Rubenstein, the billionaire co-founder of The Carlye Group
- José Andrés, the superstar chef and founding father of the World Central Kitchen charity group
- Ashton Baldwin Carter, the previous Protection Secretary
- Tim Gill, an entrepreneur whose work has superior LGBT rights
- George W. Romney, the late businessman and former Michigan governor
- George Stevens, Jr., an writer and playwright
- Fannie Lou Hamer, the late civil rights chief and founding father of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Celebration
