Trump Awards the First Medals of Sacrifice in the Oval Office, May 19, 2025
May 19, 2025 · The White House · 0:30:19
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
President Donald Trump hosted a law enforcement event in the Oval Office on May 19, 2025, carried on the White House channel, awarding the first-ever Medals of Sacrifice. “It’s a real honor to welcome all of you to the White House, the famous Oval Office. And we award the first ever Medals of Sacrifice to three heroic law enforcement officers from Palm Beach County, Florida,” he said, noting that Congressman Brian Mast had that day introduced a bill to ensure the medal goes to any law enforcement officer or first responder killed in the line of duty, as he announced the legislation. He thanked Laura and Eric Trump for their work to make the medal a reality, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who attended, and Alexander Arnault and Tiffany & Company, who designed the medal, as he credited them.
The recipients, as the President named them, were Corporal Luis Paez Jr., Deputy Sheriff Ralph “Butch” Waller Jr., and Deputy Sheriff Ignacio “Dan” Diaz — close friends and colleagues, as he described them — represented by their families: Paez’s former wife Doris and son Cameron, Waller’s wife Denise, and Diaz’s daughter Alexandria. “Today, we also remember three remarkable heroes who will become the medal’s first ever recipients. It’s a big honor,” the President said. He closed by taking reporters’ questions, including on Ukraine: “I think he wants to stop,” he said of President Zelenskyy. “But I could answer that question better in two weeks or four weeks from now,” as he stated his timeline.
Why it matters
This ceremony creates a new national honor on camera: the first Medals of Sacrifice, their Palm Beach County recipients and families, the Tiffany design credit, and the Mast bill that would make the medal permanent — the founding record of the award.
Scoreboard candidate
Scoreboard candidate: the May 19, 2025 first awarding of the Medals of Sacrifice and the introduction of legislation to establish the medal for fallen officers and first responders, as announced by the President — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.
Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Law Enforcement Event, May 19, 2025” (official upload, embedded above). White House Medal of Sacrifice clips of the same ceremony (M2yjh1Z0_LA, 7NXdi_nqx0c) are recorded as alternates in the index. Names as named by the President; the White House upload descriptions carry the officers’ names as Luis Paez Jr., Ralph Waller Jr., and Ignacio Diaz. All characterizations as stated by the President.
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