Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar is planning to introduce legislation this week affirming 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that will impose criminal penalties for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked.
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. Last week, the Congressman circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter asking his fellow members of Congress to cosponsor legislation.
William Henry “Bill” Cosby, Jr. received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.
Congressman Gosar says he has been working closely with Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE), a DC-based nonprofit organization, that works to prevent sexual assault and heal survivors, on this effort. Congressman Gosar has been working on this legislation for months following release of the 2005 deposition in July 2015.
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.”
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.
In the 20 page Affidavit of Probable Cause, county officials 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.”
According to the New York Daily News, court documents obtained by the Associated Press on Monday, July 7, 2015, revealed that “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’.” During a deposition on September 29, 2005, a lawyer, Dolores Troiani, asked Cosby, “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.”
“The Presidential Medal of Freedom is not something to be taken lightly and such an honor must come with responsibility and accountability,” said Gosar in a statement released last week. “No doubt, Bill Cosby has made cultural contributions to public life in the United States as both an entertainer and as an advocate for social causes. However, the shocking admissions of Cosby during a 2005 deposition, the harrowing accounts of more than 50 women of Cosby’s sexual assault and drugging as well as Cosby’s arrest for three felony counts of sexual assault make him unfit to retain our nation’s highest civilian honor.”
“When approached, President Obama stated there is no mechanism to revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Cosby, making it is necessary to establish a formal removal process in order to protect the integrity of this award,” continued Gosar. “For this reason, I will introduce legislation that ensures there is a mechanism in place to strip Cosby, or anyone else that Congress finds dishonorarable, of the Medal of Freedom.”
“Furthermore, it is true that there is a presumption of innocence in the American legal system, and rightly so. While our criminal justice system will ultimately determine whether Cosby serves jail time for the 2004 incident, Montgomery County prosecutors made clear in their Affidavit of Probable Cause yesterday that Bill Cosby has likely been drugging women for years. Cosby’s own admissions to drugging women for sex place him outside the bounds of whom we should admire in our society.” Gosar concluded, “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.”