Senate Honors Capitol Officer With Standing Ovation, Unanimous Vote For Top Award

A U.S. Capitol Police officer was recognized in the Senate on Friday for his actions that protected lawmakers from the mob storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Officer Eugene Goodman received a lengthy standing ovation from senators after the day’s impeachment trial proceedings wrapped up. The lawmakers unanimously voted to award him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can offer.

“In the weeks after the attack on January the sixth, the world learned about the incredible, incredible bravery of Officer Goodman on that fateful day,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. 

Video played during the trial showed Goodman working alone to lure the mob away from the entrance to the Senate and toward a part of the building with more officers. More footage showed him running toward Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to warn him of the approaching rioters. Thanking Goodman, Romney later said, “I don’t think my family or my wife understood that I was as close as I might have been to real danger.”

Schumer praised Goodman, who was present at Friday’s proceedings, for his “calmness under pressure, his courage in the line of duty, his foresight in the midst of chaos and his willingness to make himself a target of the mob’s rage so that others might reach safety.”

The harrowing footage of Goodman leading the mob away from the Senate entrance was captured and shared by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic on Jan. 6.

The clip, which shows Goodman essentially using himself as bait to lead the rioters up a staircase and away from the Senate floor, quickly went viral. 

Impeachment managers played additional, never-before-seen footage during their presentation on Wednesday that showed Goodman warning Romney to get away from the area.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also applauded Goodman’s actions Friday.

“If not for the quick thinking and bravery of Officer Eugene Goodman in particular, people in the chamber may not have escaped unharmed,” he said of the officer, who served in the Army from 2002 to 2006 and deployed to Iraq for a year. He has largely tried to stay out of the spotlight amid his newfound fame but did take on the duty of escorting Vice President Kamala Harris on Inauguration Day.