WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden criticized the ongoing efforts to minimize the seriousness of the attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol aimed at obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. He aimed to draw a clear distinction between that day’s chaos and what he assures will be a peaceful transition, ushering Trump back into office for a second term.
Reflecting on the events of January 6, 2021, Biden condemned the “violent insurrectionists” who stormed the Capitol in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Sunday.
Biden expressed pride in the resilience of American democracy in the face of such an attack and stated his relief that the nation is unlikely to experience a similar assault this year.
Congress will convene amid snow in Washington on Monday to certify Trump’s victory in November’s election – in a session presided over by the candidate he defeated, Vice President Kamala Harris. No violence, or even procedural objections, are expected this time, marking a return to a U.S. tradition that launches the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
That’s despite Trump continuing to deny that he lost to Biden in 2020, already musing publicly about staying beyond the Constitution’s two-term White House limit, and promising to pardon some of the more than 1,250 people who have pleaded guilty or were convicted of crimes for the Capitol siege.
In his opinion piece, Biden says of the certification process, “After what we all witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, we know we can never again take it for granted.” He doesn’t mention Trump directly but says “an unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite – even erase – the history of that day.”
“To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes,” Biden wrote. “We cannot allow the truth to be lost.”
He vowed that the “election will be certified peacefully. I have invited the incoming president to the White House on the morning of Jan. 20, and I will be present for his inauguration that afternoon,” even though Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
“But on this day, we cannot forget,” Biden added. “We should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year. To remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed. To remember that democracy – even in America – is never guaranteed.”
The published piece followed Biden telling reporters at the White House earlier Sunday that the history of what occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, “should not be rewritten” and adding, “I don’t think it should be forgotten.”
Biden spent much of 2024 warning voters that Trump was a serious threat to the nation’s democracy. And this past week, the president awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot.
As he did with his opinion piece, Biden used his Sunday comments to reporters to stress that his administration is overseeing a peaceful handover of power – unlike the last one.
“I’ve reached out to make sure the smooth transition,” Biden said of Trump’s incoming administration. “We’ve got to get back to basic, normal transfer of power.”
Asked if he still viewed his soon-to-be successor in the White House as a threat to democracy, Biden responded, “I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I’m hopeful we’re beyond that now.”
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