President Joe Biden lashed out at former President Donald Trump in a speech on Thursday to mark a year since the invasion of Congress and said the US must decide what kind of country it wants to be.
“For the first time in our history, a president tried to prevent the peaceful transition of power with a violent mob that attacked Congress,” Biden said in the Capitol’s statue room. “But they failed. And on that day of remembrance, we have to make sure that an attack like this never, ever happens again.”
“The former president created a web of lies about the 2020 election. And he did so because he sees his interests as more important than the interests of America. His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy and our Constitution. can accept that he lost,” the Democrat continued.
Biden also accused Trump of negligence. “The former president sat in a dining room near the Oval Office, watching what was happening on TV, and did nothing for hours. Lives were at stake. This wasn’t a tour group. It was an armed insurrection.” , he said.
“Are we going to be a nation that allows party-linked election officials to reverse the people’s expressed will? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of truth but by the shadow of lies? We can’t afford to be that kind of nation,” Biden said. .
Before Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke. She compared the January 6 attack to great moments in the country’s history, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor and 9/11. “That attack showed the fragility of democracy. If we don’t protect it, it will go away,” he said.
During the day, other events will be held in Washington to mark a year of the invasion. At noon there will be a ceremony in the Chamber, with a minute of silence in respect for the victims. During the afternoon, a vigil will be held outside the Capitol.
The assault on democracy a year ago was an attempt by Trump and supporters to forcibly change the outcome of the election. The Republican had lost re-election to Biden in November 2020, but refused to accept the defeat, citing an alleged fraud, never proven.
On January 6, 2021, Congress would certify votes submitted by states. Trump’s strategy was to try to convince lawmakers to invalidate part of the results. The then president considered that he could reverse the defeat if he managed to get congressmen to change the numbers of some places – an unfeasible maneuver in the House – and pressured his vice, Mike Pence, who would lead the session, to refuse data sent by the states (which he refused to do). to do).
That day, Trump held a rally to question the outcome of the popular vote and urged his supporters to fight back, without explicitly asking them to storm Congress. Then he retired and remained quiet during the invasion, for more than two hours, despite appeals to him to do something.
Various instances of the US government work to investigate and punish those involved in the invasion. The FBI arrested and prosecuted more than 725 people. In Congress, a bipartisan commission investigates the authorities involved in planning the action, and also seeks to determine responsibility for negligence. Trump, for example, took more than two hours to go public and ask the invaders to leave.
If it is proven that he and other officials played an active role in planning the invasion or were negligent, they could be criminally prosecuted for attempting to impede or corrupt an official congressional procedure —the certification of votes—a crime under the federal law code with penalty that can reach 20 years in prison.
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