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\"I'm just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol Police is, and then turn around and go down to Mar-A-Lago and kiss his ring and come back. It just, it just hurts,\" she said.

McCarthy told ABC News after the ceremony, \"I don't know. I was holding something,\" when asked why Sicknick's family did not shake his hand.

\"Gladys
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Gladys Sicknick, the mother of fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick,walks past Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy without shaking hands at a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony in the Capitol,Dec. 6, 2022.
>

McConnell, later asked about it at his weekly news conference, said, \"I would respond by saying today we gave the gold medal to the heroes of Jan. 6. We admire and respect them. They laid their lives on the line. And that's why we gave a gold medal today to the heroes of Jan. 6.\"

In his remarks at the ceremony, McConnell called law enforcement officers at the Capitol \"familiar colleagues ... the first faces we see on our way in each morning and our last goodbyes every night.\"

\"Because you honored your oath to support and defend the Constitution, we were able to honor ours,\" McConnell told officers present. \"That is a reality that was made especially clear 23 months ago, but it is true every single day. Thank you for having our backs. Thank you for saving our country. Thank you for being not just our friends, but our heroes.\"

\"PHOTO:
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
PHOTO: Congressional Gold Medals, in honor of the U.S. Capitol Police, the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police, and others who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are displayed ahead of a ceremony at the Capitol, Dec. 6, 2022, in Washington.
>

When President Joe Biden signed legislation to grant the medals last year, he said that one would be placed at the Smithsonian Museum \"so all visitors can understand what happened that day.\" Medals will also be placed at the Capitol, at the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters and at the Metropolitan Police Department.

\"We cannot allow history to be rewritten,\" Biden said at a Rose Garden ceremony last summer. \"We cannot allow the heroism of these officers to be forgotten. We have to understand what happened -- the honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it.\"

ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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