- President Biden said January 6 "can never happen again" in remarks at the US Capitol.
- "Democracy was attacked, simply attacked," Biden said. "The will of the people was under assault."
- Biden and VP Kamala Harris delivered rare national addresses in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol.
President Joe Biden said the January 6 insurrection "can never" happen again on the one-year anniversary of the attack and blamed the insurrection on former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
"Democracy was attacked, simply attacked," Biden said at the US Capitol on Thursday. "The will of the people was under assault."
"Outnumbered in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the National Guard and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law," Biden said. "Our democracy held. We the people endured. We the people prevailed."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered rare remarks in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill to observe the one year anniversary of the insurrection of January 6, 2021. On that day, a violent mob of Trump's supporters breached the US Capitol to try to halt Congress from affirming Biden's electoral college win.
Harris, who was then Vice President-elect and still a member of the US Senate, spoke before Biden. She recalled her staff "converting filing cabinets into barricades" in her office. She said that January 6 reflects both the "strength" and "fragility" of American democracy, and called on the American people to individually uphold the values of democracy.
"The American spirit is being tested," Harris said. "The work ahead will not be easy."
In his roughly 20 minute speech, Biden explicitly laid the blame of the violence of January 6 on Trump and his refusal to acknowledge his election loss without using Trump's name, only referring to him as "the former president."
—MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 6, 2022
"And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution, he can't accept he lost," Biden said. "Even though that's what 93 United States Senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors, and state officials in every battleground state have all said he lost. That's what 81 million of you did when you voted for a new way forward."
Biden also called out Trump's statements referring to January 6 as "a protest" and the November 3, 2020 election as "the real insurrection."
"Can you think of a more twisted way to look at this country?," Biden said.
Biden reiterated the lack of proof of any substantial voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed back on Trump's supporters who were "literally defecating in the hallways" of the Capitol.
"You can't love your country only when you win. You can't obey the law only when it's convenient," Biden said.
Biden described the current moment as "an inflection point in democracy," saying that America's adversaries like Russia and China are "are betting that democracy's days are numbered."
The president said he believes his job is to unite the nation and praised the legacy of those who have fought for democracy through wars and the Civil Rights era.
"And my God, bless those who stand watch over our democracy," Biden said in closing.