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| Keywords: Rep Gosar Holds RevokeTheMedal Press Conference Promoting Legislation to Strip Bill Cosby's Medal of Freedom.jpg In Case You Missed It Rep Gosar Holds RevokeTheMedal Press Conference Promoting Legislation to Strip Bill Cosby ™s Medal of Freedom Jan 7 2016 Issues Government Oversight and Regulatory Reform For Immediate Release Date January 7 2016 Contact Steven D Smith Steven Smith mail house gov WASHINGTON D C “ Earlier this afternoon U S Congressman Paul A Gosar D D S AZ-04 held a RevokeTheMedal press conference promoting legislation he will introduce tomorrow to affirm a mechanism for the president to strip Bill Cosby of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and that will impose criminal penalties for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked Congressman Gosar was joined at the press conference by Executive Director of Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment PAVE Angela Rose Congressman Gosar has been working closely with PAVE a DC-based nonprofit organization that works to prevent sexual assault and heal survivors The press conference was livestreamed on the Congressman ™s Facebook page and the transcript of his remarks are included below 3 00 P M EST - WASHINGTON D C CONGRESSMAN PAUL GOSAR Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today for this important press conference My name is Paul Gosar and I represent Arizona ™s 4th Congressional district As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform my colleagues and I have made it our mission to hold the government accountable for its actions From time to time such as this it includes oversight of accolades awarded by the government The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established in 1963 This prestigious award is bestowed on recipients for especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors The Medal of Freedom is the highest level of honor our country gives to civilians and it is the responsibility of Congress to ensure proper accountability and preserve the integrity of the award William Henry Bill Cosby Jr received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 Sadly over the past year we have learned from Cosby ™s own admissions that he acted in ways unbecoming of a recipient of the Medal of Freedom Cosby ™s shocking admission in a 2005 deposition where he admitted to drugging women in order to satisfy his sexual desires make him unfit to retain our nation ™s highest civilian honor Court documents obtained by the Associated Press on Monday July 7 2015 revealed that ¦ quoting the New York Daily News ¦ Cosby admitted under oath that he bought Quaaludes to dope the women he wanted to grope ”and slipped the sedative to at least one lady and ˜other people ™ end quote Specifically during the September 29 2005 deposition a lawyer Dolores Troiani asked Cosby quote When you got the Quaaludes was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with and Cosby answered Yes end quote To continue honoring Bill Cosby with this prestigious accolade would be an affront to women nationwide particularly those who were victims of his horrific acts Last July when questioned about revoking Cosby ™s medal President Obama stated There's no precedent for revoking a medal ¦We don't have that mechanism Since that time I have been working closely with PAVE and others to craft legislation that provides a mechanism Tomorrow several of my colleagues and I will introduce legislation that ensures there is a mechanism in place to strip Cosby or anyone else found dishonorable of the Medal of Freedom Our legislation imposes criminal penalties for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked Now I want to be very clear about one thing It is true that there is a presumption of innocence in the American legal system and rightly so And while our criminal justice system will ultimately determine whether Cosby serves jail time for any of the crimes of which he has been accused Cosby ™s own admissions to drugging women in order to satisfy his sexual desires place him outside the bounds of whom we should admire in our society As one of my constituents Dennis Luis stated eloquently on my Facebook page Civilian honors such as this come with no legal protections or guarantees Honors are optional and not anyone's legal right to have and keep ¦The bar should be extraordinarily high for the Medal of Freedom and to keep Cosby as a recipient greatly diminishes the very worth of that honor Furthermore by allowing Cosby to keep his Medal of Freedom our nation is sending the wrong message to society and future generations And like so many Americans I am sick and tired of watching the rapid decline of our culture right in front of our eyes It is time to reclaim our nation ™s moral compass The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an important symbol of our country It is time for our elected leaders to boldly take a stand for what is right and join together in condemning abhorrent behavior like that of Bill Cosby Revoking Bill Cosby ™s Medal of Freedom won ™t undo his actions or heal the wounds of his victims but it will signal to the American people that we will not tolerate such lewd behavior I am honored to be joined today by Angela Rose Executive Director of PAVE which stands for Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment PAVE is a national nonprofit organization that does great work in seeking to prevent sexual assault and assist with healing survivors Angela the floors all yours Background The full text of the draft Gosar legislation can be found HERE PAVE ™s press release from 12/17/15 can be found HERE Congressman Gosar has been working on this legislation for months following the release of the 2005 deposition in July 2015 Last July when questioned about revoking Cosby ™s medal President Obama stated There's no precedent for revoking a medal ¦We don't have that mechanism Since that time I have been working closely with PAVE and others to craft legislation that provides a mechanism Congressman Gosar ™s bill affirms a mechanism for the president to strip Bill Cosby of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and will impose criminal penalties for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established in 1963 This prestigious award is bestowed on recipients for especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors William Henry Bill Cosby Jr received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 In recent months more than 50 women have come forward and conveyed disturbing accounts of drugging and sexual assault by Cosby The statute of limitations has expired for many of these incidents and as a result many of these women will never get their day in court On December 30 2015 Montgomery County Prosecutors charged Cosby with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a young woman without her consent in a 2004 incident The 20 Page Affidavit of Probable Cause and three page Criminal Complaint can be found HERE In the 20 page Affidavit of Probable Cause prosecutors found that the evidence here demonstrates that the victim ™s substantially impaired condition prevented her ability to consent or even defend herself from Cosby ™s sexual assault Prosecutors also noted that over the years Cosby obtained seven separate prescriptions for Quaaludes that he did not personally ingest nor ever intended to personally ingest Specifically during the September 29 2005 deposition a lawyer Dolores Troiani asked Cosby quote When you got the Quaaludes was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with and Cosby answered Yes end quote Cosby ™s own admissions to drugging women in order to satisfy his sexual desires place him outside the bounds of whom we should admire in our society https //gosar house gov/press-release/case-you-missed-it-rep-gosar-holds-revokethemedal-press-conference-promoting gosar house gov 2016-01-07 United States Congressman Paul Gosar Public Domain as product of the United States Federal Government Revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Cosby PD-USGov Bill Cosby in 2016 Paul Gosar Bill Cosby-related documents Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations Revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Cosby | ||||
