For the first anniversary of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks from Statuary Hall, emphasizing that the United States will not become a haven for autocrats or tinpot dictators.
Without naming him specifically, President Biden ripped into former President Donald Trump over the course of his more than 25-minute long speech, asking Americans to reject the lies of widespread election fraud that still dominate so many corners of the Republican party and are endlessly propped up by Trump’s sycophants still in Congress.
“The Bible tells us that we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free,” Biden said. “We know the truth…. close your eyes. Go back to that day. What do you see? Rioters rampaging, waving for the first time inside this Capitol a Confederate flag representing a cause to destroy America, to rip us apart. Even during the Civil War that never, ever happened but it happened here in 2021.”
Those who ransacked the halls, terrorized those inside, broke windows, kicked down doors, used American flags as weapons; those who erected a gallows for then-Vice President Mike Pence, defecated in the halls—these are no patriots, Biden said.
Police officers were engaged in “medieval” battle and as Biden recalled, some officers were “more afraid that day than fighting in Iraq.” More than 140 police officers were injured.
“They were not looking to save the cause of America. They were looking to subvert the Constitution,” he said. “This isn’t about being bogged down in the past, this is about making sure the past isn’t buried. That’s the only way forward.”
A year after the assault, Trump’s propaganda about the 2020 election has given rise to continued extremism in America and this has occurred despite the fact that Trump’s own attorney general, judges he appointed during his term and election officials in battleground states have widely and resoundingly found zero evidence of widespread fraud.
Trump, and those who have aligned themselves with his war of disinformation, have “placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy, he added.
“The Big Lie being told by the former president and Republicans who fear his wrath is that the insurrection took place on Election Day,” Biden said. “Is that what you thought you were doing or did you think you were carrying out your highest duty as a citizen and voting?”
The president also warned that the United States is at an “inflection point.”
“We’re engaged anew in our struggle between democracy and autocracy, between the aspirations of the many and the greed of the few, between the people’s right to self-determination and a self-seeking autocrat,” he said.
American adversaries like China or Russia are depending on democracy in the west to falter, the president added.
“They’ve told me democracy is too slow, too bogged down in division to succeed in today’s rapidly changing complicated world and they’re betting America will become more like them and less like us,” Biden said. “I do not believe that and that is not who we are and not who we will ever be.”
Though the House is officially out of session until Jan. 10, as the anniversary unfolds Thursday, lawmakers will deliver speeches throughout the day and a prayer vigil will be held on the steps of the Capitol this evening.
Senators, on the other hand, are in session though there has been some hesitation on keeping legislators and staff on hand, according to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican. Collins, who voted to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection last January. She told The New York Times earlier this week that Jan. 6 was a “sad” and “terrible day” but bringing a lot of attention to it may not be a “great idea.”
“For some staffers, for some of the Capitol Police officers, it brings back a lot of trauma and I just think it would be better if we aren’t here,” she said.
Collins did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday after Biden’s remarks.
When Biden left the Capitol Thursday after his speech, he fielded questions from reporters who asked him why he did not call Trump out by name.
Biden re-emphasized that to rectify what happened on Jan. 6, or even try to reconcile it in the national psyche, there must be the realization that it’s not about any one person.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about whether I’m president or she’s vice president,’ Biden said of his second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Harris. “It’s about the system. That somebody decides to put himself above everything. I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It’s way beyond that, way beyond it.”
The select committee investigating the assault remains busy at work and is preparing to commence public hearings.
Numerous questions still swirl around that day, especially over what former President Donald Trump was doing or saying in the 187 minutes that he effectively went silent and allowed his supporters to ransack the citadel of American democracy before finally releasing a statement. Records and evidence obtained by the committee so far have suggested that Trump sat idly by, watching the bloodshed on television from the security of the White House.
Trump administration officials, like former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, reportedly engaged with Trump during this time and were a critical part of the planning and preparation of the attempted coup. Meadows initially agreed to cooperate with the committee but backtracked halfway through, citing claims of executive privilege. That conduct earned him a criminal contempt of congress referral from the House of Representatives. The next move belongs to the Department of Justice.
If Meadows is indicted—which will be a tall order given the difficulty in irrefutably proving contempt—he will be the first former White House chief of staff in many years to see this fate.
Just yesterday, Attorney General Merrick Garland worked on assuaging concerns about the progress being made on its sweeping probe into the Capitol attack.
“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law, whether they were present that day or otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts,” Garland said.
Minutes after Biden’s remarks with Vice President Harris, Trump issued a statement calling the speech “political theater” and a “distraction.”
Later Thursday, Trump’s lapdogs, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia will speak about Jan. 6 in a propaganda-fueled press conference.
From Statuary Hall this morning, Biden addressed legislators who have turned their back on not only reason but on the will of more than 80 million Americans who did not vote for Trump.
“While some courageous men and women in the Republican Party are standing against it, trying to uphold the principle of that party, too many others are transforming that party into something else,” Biden said.
Despite Republicans widespread revisionist history, Biden emphasized that he would continue to work with those in the GOP who still have a “shared interest in democracy.”
Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat who was the first lawmaker to call for Trump’s impeachment the first time around, reflected on the attack Thursday.
“Last year’s dastardly assault on American democracy remains a painful, open wound, and if left untreated, will infect the heart of the body politic. The degree of hate and violence displayed in the citadel of our nation’s democracy was chilling and put countless lives in grave danger. For our nation to unite and move forward from this horrific attack, the truth of what happened that day must be known and never forgotten. We cannot allow such a devastating assault to occur again,” Green said.
Over in the Senate, the majority whip and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin, announced Thursday that he will lead a public hearing on the threat that domestic terrorism poses to the United States.
“We must condemn violence in all of its forms, but the intel community has made clear: the most significant & most lethal threat comes from violent white supremacists & militia violent extremists,” Durbin tweeted.
An extensive report published by the Atlantic Council unpacked how domestic extremists have “adapted and evolved” in the wake of the Jan. 6 assault. Hate groups that were in force in Washington on Jan. 6, like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, for example, have learned how to adapt after their defeat at the Capitol, glomming onto more conservative causes and using them opportunistically. That astroturfing has been vast and has included the group throwing its support behind the anti-vaccine movement.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas on Jan. 5 told reporters that the federal government was “not aware of any specific or credible threat” posed on Thursday's anniversary. He did say, however, that DHS is operating at a “heightened level of threat” because the danger posed by domestic extremists is “very grave.”
Mayorkas said Tuesday that the Homeland Security agency is distributing $180 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to nonprofit groups to address targeted violence they may experience.
Combatting domestic extremism has become a renewed priority since Biden took office. In March, after Biden issued an executive order demanding agencies beef up their efforts to combat homegrown terrorism, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an assessment stating that militia groups and white supremacists pose some of the nation’s greatest threats.