At tonight’s State Dinner in the Rose Garden, President Obama presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award the president may bestow. This is reported by BBC. In his comments before presenting the award, Obama described Merkel as a symbol of freedom, given her childhood in communist East Germany. “Tonight, we honor Angela Merkel not for being denied her freedom, or even for attaining her freedom, but for what she achieved when she gained her freedom,” the president said.

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