Trump administration gave Courage Award to a woman who criticized Trump, then rescinded the honor, then lied about it, a watchdog agency finds

Based on OIG‘s analysis of that cable and other information, OIG found that Ms. Aro had been selected for the award and notified of this selection. However, after notification but prior to the award ceremony, Department officials discovered “disconcerting” social media postings by Ms. Aro, some of which were critical of the current President, and, because of these, decided to rescind the award. OIG found that decisions as to award recipients are governed solely by the guidance in the nominating cable and are wholly within the Department’s discretion and that the Department’s decision to rescind the award appeared to be an authorized exercise of its discretion. However, the Department initially stated to the public and to Congressional staff that Ms. Aro was incorrectly notified of the selection and, when asked direct questions, refused to acknowledge that her social media posts factored into the decision. The Department subsequently provided more information in response to a congressional question for the record in which it acknowledged that, in general, a nominee’s social media posts is one factor reviewed when determining eligibility for an IWOC award. —Office of Inspector General, US Department of State