President Joe Biden is marking the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol with a speech Thursday morning that will address former President Donald Trump’s role and call for the nation to reject political violence.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave a brief preview of the president’s upcoming remarks during Wednesday’s press briefing. While she declined to say whether Biden will invoke Trump by name, Psaki said he will address the “singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage we saw.”
“He will forcibly push back on the lie spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters, as well as distract from his role and what happened,” Psaki added. (RELATED: Liz Cheney Says She Agrees With Speaker Pelosi On Rejecting Two Republicans For The Jan. 6 Select Committee)
Another focus of the president’s speech will be addressing what kind of a nation the U.S. should be, according to a preview of his remarks provided by the administration. Biden will ask whether the country will “allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people” and if the U.S. “lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies.”
“And so at this moment we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be,” Biden will say, according to an excerpt provided ahead of his morning speech. “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?”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 06: A member of the U.S. Capitol police rushes Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) out of the House Chamber as protesters try to enter the House Chamber during a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators said they would reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to audit the election results. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?” Biden will add. “We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also plans to give remarks on Thursday. Psaki told reporters that Biden has been personally involved in writing his upcoming speech, which will be given at National Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.
Trump had planned to hold a press conference in Florida on Thursday, but cancelled and blamed “the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media.” According to an Axios article, however, the former president cancelled after several allies – including Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham – suggested the move would be a bad idea.