Washington DC - President Joe Biden took digs at Donald Trump Friday as he awarded the country's top civilian honor to Democratic allies, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and vice president Al Gore.

Biden said Pelosi had "defended democracy" during the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters enraged by the Republican's election loss a few weeks earlier.

Gore meanwhile was "amazing" for accepting his own disputed election loss to George W. Bush in 2000 for the sake of the country, the Democrat said, drawing a pointed contrast.

The comments came as Biden presented them with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House, whose political overtones were clear as the next presidential election looms just six months away.

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The 19 winners also covered the fields of culture, activism and sport, including Oscar-winning Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky and, posthumously, legendary civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was murdered in 1963.

Other prominent Democrats honored included former secretary of state John Kerry, and former New York mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg.

There was also a medal for Black Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement in 2020 saved Biden's flailing campaign by securing him the support of Black voters in the South Carolina primary.

In addition, Biden posthumously honored athlete Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, in 1912. He died in 1953.