No, Biden didn’t revoke Medal of Freedom from Trump campaign manager | Fact check
The claim: Joe Biden revoked Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Bradley Birkenfeld
A Jan. 4 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows an apparent screenshot answering a question about the country’s highest civilian honor.
“Can a president rescind the medal of freedom,” reads the post. “Yes, a president can rescind the Presidential Medal of Freedom. While it is rare, there have been instances where a president has revoked this honor.”
It continues, “For example, President Joe Biden revoked the Medal of Freedom awarded to former President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bradley Birkenfeld, in 2021. The decision to rescind such an honor typically involves significant controversy or actions by the recipient that are seen as contrary to the values the medal represents.”
The post was liked more than 1,000 times in nine days. Similar posts were shared on X.
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Our rating: False
Birkenfeld was never awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and there’s no evidence he was ever President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign manager. Presidents can’t revoke the award after it has been given.
Presidents can't rescind Medal of Freedom awards
Birkenfeld, a former banker for the Swiss bank UBS, was sentenced to 40 months in prison in 2009 for helping a billionaire real estate developer in the U.S. evade $7.2 million in taxes by concealing $200 million of assets hidden offshore in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, according to the Justice Department.
The IRS later awarded Birkenfeld a $104 million whistleblower award for revealing information about the Swiss banking system, The New York Times reported in 2012. However, Birkenfeld never received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His name is not on a list of recipients compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
There is also no evidence Birkenfeld was ever Trump’s campaign manager. A report by The Atlantic from 2021 says a colleague of Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager during the 2016 presidential election, offered to urge Trump to give Birkenfeld a pardon in exchange for a fee. Birkenfeld told The Atlantic that he rejected the offers, calling them “shakedowns.”
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In 2015, then-President Barack Obama was asked about taking back the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to Bill Cosby after the comedian and actor was accused of sexual assault by dozens of women. Obama said there was no way to revoke the award, NBC News reported. Two pieces of legislation that would have made it possible did not become law.
The response to the question in the Instagram post appears to be from Grok, X’s AI chatbot. But xAI’s website says Grok “may provide inaccurate or inappropriate information.”
“Because Grok has been trained on publicly available information, which may sometimes include misleading or factually inaccurate information, Grok may at times include in its responses misleading or factually incorrect information based upon that public information,” the website says.
In early January, Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 people, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire political activist and philanthropist George Soros, as Paste BN previously reported.
Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
PolitiFact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Justice Department, Aug. 21, 2009. Former UBS Banker Sentenced to 40 Months for Aiding Billionaire American Evade Taxes
- The New York Times, Sept. 11, 2012, Whistle-Blower Awarded $104 Million by I.R.S.
- Congressional Research Service, accessed Jan. 13, Presidential Medal of Freedom
- The Atlantic, Feb. 10, 2021, A Million-Dollar Pardon Offer at the Trump Hotel
- NBC News, July 15, 2015, Obama on Bill Cosby: No Way to Revoke Cosby's Medal of Freedom
- Congress.gov, accessed Jan. 13, H.R.4354
- Congress.gov, accessed Jan. 13, H.R.6810
- xAI, accessed Jan. 13, xAI Consumer FAQs
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