President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attacked former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Biden and Harris addressed the nation from inside the Capitol on Thursday. Biden never referenced Trump by name, but did refer to “the former president” more than a dozen times throughout his speech, accusing him of inciting the “insurrection.”
“For the first time in our history, a President had not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob reached the Capitol,” Biden said. “But they failed. They failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again.”
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Harris also raised eyebrows by comparing the Capitol riot to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and September 11, two foreign attacks that resulted in thousands of dead Americans and sparked years-long global wars.
“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said. “Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7, 1941, September 11th, 2001 and January 6th, 2021.”
Trump responded to Biden’s speech within minutes, arguing that the Democrats and the current administration are inflating the importance of Jan. 6 in an attempt to distract from policy failures.
“Biden is working hard to try and deflect the incompetent job he is doing, and has done, on the horrible Afghanistan withdrawal (surrender), the Borders, COVID, Inflation, loss of Energy Independence, and much more,” Trump wrote. “Everything he touches turns to failure.”
Biden and Democrats have faced criticism for their handling of the Congressional investigation into Jan. 6. While the probe is nominally apolitical, the Select Committee conducting the investigation is reportedly considering holding its hearings in the evenings to broadcast on prime time television. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bashed the Democrats’ “nauseating” push to paint Jan. 6 as a truly democracy-threatening event.
NEW: @GovRonDeSantis says the anniversary of January 6th is “not something that most Floridians have been concerned about.”
Says events in DC today will be “nauseating” and a “politicized Charlie Foxtrot” (ask your military friends what that last phrase means).
— Jay O’Brien (@jayobtv) January 6, 2022
“I don’t expect anything good to come out of anything Pelosi and the gang are doing,” DeSantis said Thursday. “I don’t expect anything coming out of the corporate press to be enlightening — I think it’s going to be nauseating frankly.”