President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris attended a memorial Tuesday to the lives lost from COVID-19 in Washington, hours after the U.S. death toll surpassed 400,000.
Biden made brief remarks in between renditions of “Amazing Grace” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The event landed on President Donald Trump’s final full day in office and just hours after Trump gave his farewell address to the nation via a recorded video.
“To heal we must remember. It’s important to do that as a nation,” Biden said. “Between sundown and dusk let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all who we lost.” (RELATED: US Surpasses 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths)
President-elect Joe Biden: “To heal we must remember…It’s important to do that as a nation…between sundown and dusk let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all who we lost.”
Full video here: https://t.co/zJgfdrALb8 pic.twitter.com/0Ilc6ggZhu
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 19, 2021
Dozens of rows of lights had been set up lining the reflection pool between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.
The view as @JoeBiden, @DrBiden, @KamalaHarris and @SecondGentleman depart the event. pic.twitter.com/Y3DFq1mqA7
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 19, 2021
Biden is set to be sworn into office Wednesday at noon, an event Trump will not attend. Trump will instead hold a farewell ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base. Vice President Mike Pence is skipping Trump’s farewell in favor of attending Biden’s inauguration. (RELATED: REPORT: VP Mike Pence, Not President Trump, Approved Deployment Of National Guard To Stop Mob In DC)
Roughly 25,000 National Guard troops have been stationed in the nation’s capital to keep the peace during the inauguration, which some Trump supporters have threatened to disturb. Protests have also been planned at state capitals across the country, according to the FBI.