Biden to current Hillary Clinton, George Soros and 17 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom 

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 “people who’ve made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or safety of the USA, world peace, or different vital societal, public or non-public endeavors.” 

“President Biden believes nice leaders hold the religion, give everybody a good shot, and put decency above all else,” the White Home mentioned in a press release. “These nineteen Individuals are nice leaders who’ve made America a greater place. They’re nice leaders as a result of they’re good individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to their nation and the world.” 

Soros, 94, has been probably the most prolific fundraisers for the Democratic Occasion 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 information. 

In 2024, Soros funneled one other $60 million for Home and Senate Democrats and different left-wing causes via his Democracy PAC, information present. 

Soros, who has shifted tens of billions of {dollars} of his private internet price over to his Open Society Foundations, which funds a mess of progressive tasks world wide, has additionally closely invested in races to set up 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 felony justice reform over prosecuting criminals.

The left-wing investor has additionally come beneath hearth for funneling tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to teams supporting anti-Israel protesters on school campuses. 

The White Home described Soros as “a philanthropist who 4 a long time in the past based the Open Society Foundations” and “via his community of foundations … has supported organizations, and tasks internationally that strengthen democracy, human rights, training, 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 distinction by former President Barack Obama. 

The previous first woman, secretary of state and New York senator “made historical past many instances over a long time in public service,” the White Home mentioned. 

In 2016, Clinton made historical past when she turned the primary lady nominated for president by a serious United States political social gathering. 

Her bid to turn out to be the nation’s first feminine president got here up brief when President-elect Donald Trump defeated her within the 2016 race. 

Clinton was the topic of an FBI probe over her use of a personal electronic mail server throughout her time within the Obama administration however was by no means charged with a criminal offense.

On the conclusion of the bureau’s investigation, former FBI Director James Comey mentioned that the Clinton and her colleagues had been “extraordinarily careless of their dealing with of very delicate, extremely categorized info” however that the FBI “didn’t discover clear proof that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues supposed to violate legal guidelines governing the dealing with of categorized info.” 

Biden, 82, may even award medals to a number of Hollywood A-listers, famous person athletes and American cultural icons at Saturday’s ceremony, together with:

• Bono, the frontman of rock band U2

• Michael J. Fox, the “Again to the Future” star 

• Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a Los Angeles Lakers legend

• Ralph Lauren, the visionary clothier

• Lionel Messi, the MLS star and captain of Argentina’s World Cup-winning soccer workforce 

• Denzel Washington, the Academy-Award-winning actor

• Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue

• William Sanford Nye, the tv presenter higher often called “Invoice Nye the Science Man 

• Robert Francis Kennedy, the slain former New York senator and US Legal professional Common 

• Jane Goodall, the famend primatologist and anthropologist 

• David M. Rubenstein, the billionaire co-founder of The Carlye Group

• José Andrés, the movie star 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 Occasion