Joe Biden to warn US that Trump has put democracy at threat in January 6 riot speech
06 January, 2022
President Joe Biden is expected to warn on Thursday that US democracy is under threat from his predecessor Donald Trump's conspiracy theories, in a dark speech marking the first anniversary of the January 6 attack against Congress.
The President will be speaking from Statuary Hall in the Capitol – the location of violent assaults by a Trump mob trying to stop certification of Biden's 2020 election win a year ago – the president will recall his “horror” during that “dark day,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
The event, at which Vice President Kamala Harris will also speak, is scheduled for 9am.
The party's senior lawmaker, Senator Mitch McConnell, is leading a delegation to a funeral of a recently deceased senator some 600 miles away in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mr Trump, who had initially planned to try to steal the limelight by holding an anniversary press conference in Florida, dismissed the ceremonies, which will include a prayer vigil, as Democrats “congregating … to fan the flames of a divide that THEY created.”
Mr Biden took office promising to bring old-fashioned decency and calm back to Washington, but will instead respond with his own offensive.
Until now, Mr Biden has mostly opted to ignore Trump, even as the Republican continues his unprecedented campaign to discredit the 2020 election and claim, fraudulently, that he won.
“I would expect President Biden to lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage,” Ms Psaki said.
“He will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters."
Asked if Mr Biden would use Mr Trump's name, Ms Psaki said: “We're finalising the speech, but I think people will know whom he's referring to.”
On Wednesday, the Capitol police chief, Thomas Manger, said his forces would never be caught unprepared again, as they were last year.
But the political risk may be, if anything, higher than before.
Writing in The New York Times, former Democratic president Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that the US “teeters on the brink of a widening abyss”.
“Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late,” Mr Carter wrote.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called for a profound look at the state of the nation.
“Without addressing the root causes of the violence on January 6, the insurrection will not be an aberration – it could well become the norm,” he said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Wednesday that authorities have so far arrested and charged about 725 people across the country in connection with the attack.
Facing criticism that the Justice Department has moved too slowly to tackle the leaders and address accusations of a deeper plot to overthrow the election, Mr Garland pleaded for patience, suggesting that investigators are moving up the chain.
“We resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases,” he said.
The department said it is “committed to holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law, whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”
Source: www.thenationalnews.com