A rchive Date
[ 06-01-2022 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-capitol-attack-speech-1.6305787
Joe Biden to address country on anniversary of U.S. Capitol attack
5 people died, include a police officer and protester, in Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jan 06, 2022 8:52 AM ET | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, of posing a continuing threat to American democracy in a speech on the anniversary of the deadly U.S. Capitol attack.
Speaking at the white-domed building that was the scene of the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden warned that Trump's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud could unravel the rule of law and undermine future elections.
"We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. Here's the truth: A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle," Biden said.
Autocratic countries such as China and Russia are invested in seeing democracy collapse in the U.S., he said. "We are in a battle for the soul of America," Biden said.
The speech was a departure for Biden, who has spent most of his first year in office focused on pursuing his own agenda rather than looking backward.
"Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?" he said.
"Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it."
Four people who attended the riot died: one, a female protester who was part of the mob that forced its way into the Capitol, was shot by a Capitol Police officer; two people died of heart failure; and one person died of an amphetamine overdose. A Capitol Police officer who confronted the rioters died a day later after suffering two strokes.
Several events marking the anniversary are planned for Washington, D.C., on Thursday. They will be widely attended by Democrats, in person and virtually, but almost every Republican on Capitol Hill will be absent.
Trump cancelled a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that had been scheduled for Thursday evening, blaming what he called the "bias and dishonesty" of the House of Representatives probe of the attacks and the news media, a favourite target.
"Biden ... used my name today to try to further divide America," Trump said in a statement released right after the president's speech.
Republicans muted about anniversary
Most Republican officials and officeholders have remained loyal to Trump despite comments in the immediate aftermath of the attack condemning his incendiary actions.
Some, such as congressmen Paul Gosar, have sought to play down the attack by likening the rioters to tourists and questioning whether the assault was perpetrated by federal agents.
The Republicans who have called for accountability, including House members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, have been shunned by their colleagues. The pair are the only Republicans participating in a congressional investigation that has interviewed more than 300 witnesses so far, including top Trump aides.
Bidens slams changes to state voting laws
Republicans at the state level who were dissatisfied with the election result and objected to higher incidence of mail-in voting as a result of the pandemic have since attempted to place party loyalists in key positions on electoral boards and change state laws that could affect future elections.
"Right now, in state after state, new laws are being written, not to protect the vote but to deny it," said Biden, characterizing those steps as "undemocratic."
Multiple polls have indicated that a significant percentage of Republican voters still believe the November 2020 election was illegitimately won by Biden despite the fact legal challenges to the vote were almost unanimously rejected.
Civil suits directed at some U.S. media outlets and Trump advocates over their stolen-election claims have been filed, including by Toronto-based Dominion Voting Systems, whose machines were used across the U.S.
In a news conference on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to leave no stone unturned in the ongoing investigation into the Capitol Hill riots.
Garland said more than 725 people have been arrested and charged in relation to the Jan. 6 attack, with those involved in assaulting police officers facing the most serious counts.
He said the investigation has issued more than 5,000 subpoenas and search warrants, seized 2,000 electronic devices and examined 20,000 hours of video footage and 15 terabytes of data.
While Garland did not specify if any politicians or political aides are being investigated for events surrounding the false election claims or Jan. 6 events, he vowed the department would "follow the facts wherever they lead."
With files from CBC News
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 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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