WASHINGTON – President Trump awarded the National Arts Medal to country music singers Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs minutes after he was charged for the second time on Wednesday afternoon, a White House spokesman confirmed.
Skaggs, 61, is an American country and bluegrass singer who has won the Grammy 15 times, while Keith, 59, performed at a pre-opening party for Trump in Washington, DC, in 2016.
The National Medal of Arts, created by Congress in 1984, is the highest honor paid to artists and arts in the United States.
Wednesday’s honors continue the president’s wave of last-minute awards and pardons as he prepares to leave the White House.
Earlier this month, Trump awarded the Republican Party representatives the Freedom Medal. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Devin Nunes of California – two of the president’s most fervent supporters on Capitol Hill.
Jordan was a fierce opponent of Wednesday’s impeachment charge, accusing Trump of inciting an insurrection in the Capitol siege last week, accusing Democrats of wanting to “cancel” Trump.
Last month, the president launched a pardon campaign before Christmas, dismissing former campaign president Paul Manafort, longtime associate Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, Jared Kushner.
