Biden: Trump "has created and spread a web of lies" Joe Biden continued to go strong against Donald Trump in his speech on the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol: “The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He has done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interests. Because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. “He can’t accept he lost, 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 said: he lost. That’s what 81 million of you did when you voted for a new way forward.” Historians mark 6 January with urgent warning on threats to US democracy Some of America’s most prominent historians gave an urgent warning about the state of American democracy as they gathered on Capitol Hill on Thursday to commemorate the 6 January insurrection. Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham condemned the attack on the Capitol, which was carried out by a group of former president Donald Trump’s supporters to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. They warned that the US remained at a crucial turning point amid ongoing threats to its democratic systems. “What you saw a year ago today was the worst instincts of both human nature and American politics,” Meacham said. “And it’s either a step on the way to the abyss or it is a call to arms figuratively for citizens to engage.” Echoing Meacham’s message, Goodwin argued that this moment represents an opportunity for Americans to rededicate themselves to the cause of democracy, citing the example set by those who fought for the Union in the civil war and marched for civil rights in the 1960’s. “We’ve come through these really tough times before,” Goodwin said. “We’ve had lots of people who were willing to step up and put their public lives against their private lives. And that’s what we’ve got to depend on today. That’s what we need in these years and months ahead.” The historians’ comments came as many Americans, particularly those who support Trump, continue to deny the dark reality of the Capitol insurrection. Only about 4 in 10 Republicans describe the 6 January attack as very violent or extremely violent, according to a recent AP-NORC poll. About 30% of Republicans say the insurrection was not violent at all, while another 30% say it was only somewhat violent. ‘I was there’: Democrat recalls horror and fury on day of Capitol attack It was a visceral cry at the moment of maximum peril for American democracy. A furious mob had overrun police and was nearly at the door of the House of Representatives. Inside the chamber, Republican Paul Gosar was launching a spurious challenge to Joe Biden’s election victory in Arizona. Then, at the back of the gallery on the second floor, Democrat Dean Phillips rose to his feet and screamed at the top of his lungs at Gosar: “This is because of you!” The outburst was out of character for a “Minnesota nice” congressman with a reputation for moderation and working across the aisle. But a year later, Phillips remains convinced it was an urgent and necessary response to the deadly insurrection inspired by then president Donald Trump. “It’s not my style to break decorum and to scream,” he told the Guardian, “but I have to say at that moment I felt the way that tens of millions of Americans did, which is there were people responsible for what was about to transpire and there are moments where you do what you got to do, and I had to do it. I don’t regret it one bit because it’s true.” Phillips, 52, comes from a business background. He led a family-owned distillery – producing vodka, gin, rum and other liquors – and ice cream company. He was elected to Congress in 2018, representing Minnesota’s third congressional district, and is vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. “I never imagined I’d be doing this,” he admits. “I woke up the morning after the 2016 election, saw the reaction of my daughters, who were 18 and 16 at that time – their fear, their tears – and I promised them right then and there I would do something, and here I am.” Today so far Joe Biden spoke forcefully on the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, blaming the insurrection on Donald Trump and his “web of lies”. But it’s up to the justice department to determine any actual consequences for the former president, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.Donald Trump issued a number of responses to Biden’s speech, to which Psaki replied, “Well, it looks like he saw the speech. I guess that’s good news. Maybe he learned something.” Very few Republicans made appearances at commemoration events today - many were attending the funeral of former senator Johnny Isakson in Georgia. But congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former vice-president Dick Cheney, were the exception when they attended House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s remarks. Far-right extremists Matt Gaetz and Majorie Taylor Greene were the only Republicans to actually host an event today. It was only to put forth unfounded conspiracy theories. Far-right congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene appears to have changed her tune - once again - about the events of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. At the press conference with congressman Matt Gaetz to announce unfounded conspiracy theories, she said she was “very upset with what happened that day”. Previously, Greene referred to 6 January as the Republicans’ “1776 moment” in reference to the American revolution. In October, while talking about the 6 January attack, she said, “If you think about what our Declaration of Independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants.” The only Republican event commemorating the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol was hosted by far-right extremists Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Big disclaimer: none of the following is backed by evidence or facts. Speaking to Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in a conversation on Capitol Hill, historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham argued that the 6 January insurrection demonstrated the need for Americans to defend their democracy. Meacham described the events of 6 January as “the worst instincts of both human nature and American politics”. “The reality of American life is that we have to defend this experiment,” Meacham said. Goodwin expressed hope that pro-democracy Americans will have the opportunity to “write the chapter of our story,” citing the example set by those who fought for the Union in the Civil War and marched for civil rights in the 1960’s. “We’ve come through these really tough times before,” Goodwin said. “We’ve had lots of people who were willing to step up and put their public lives against their private lives. And that’s what we’ve got to depend on today. That’s what we need in these years and months ahead.” A group of historians is now holding a conversation on Capitol Hill about the significance of the 6 January insurrection and the importance of preserving American democracy. The conversation is moderated by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, and she is joined by prominent historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham. Introducing the three experts, House speaker Nancy Pelosi underscored the need to set the record straight about the violent insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people. “One year later, it is essential that we do not allow anyone to rewrite history or whitewash the gravity of what took place,” the Democratic speaker said. “It is our duty to find the facts of January 6 to ensure that such an assault on our democracy cannot happen again.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki was questioned about the lack of Republicans participating in today’s commemorations for the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. She responded that the question would be better asked of the Republicans. “We’re talking about some Republicans in Congress - not all, but many, far too many, in our view and in the president’s view - who need to take a look at themselves and what role they want to play in the history books,” she said. “When their children and grandchildren look at the history books, do they want to be perpetuating the big lie? Do they want to be walking like silent lemmings behind the former president, who fomented an insurrection? Or do they want to be part of saving our democracy?” White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked what Joe Biden’s forceful speech means for the justice department investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Critics have been unhappy with attorney general Merrick Garland - in particular, many had been hoping Garland’s speech yesterday would have been more like the president’s speech today in clearly laying blame for the attack at the feet of Donald Trump. Psaki made clear that any criminal consequences that Trump may face will be up to the justice department, which acts independently of the Biden administration. No matter what Biden said today, “the president wants the justice department and the attorney general to act independently, as the attorney general demanded when he accepted the job and as the president expected and demanded from any attorney general he was going to select,” Psaki said. Vice-president Kamala Harris has drawn some criticism from conservatives for naming the 6 January attack on the US Capitol along with the attack on Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as some of the darkest days for American democracy. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded today that even on the darkest days in US history, “there were no Confederate flags being waved in the Capitol” - members of the mob proudly waved a Confederate flag in the Capitol after they breached the gates, something even Confederate soldiers weren’t ever able to do during the American civil war. “In very dark moments in our history, there were not people storming our nation’s Capitol, trying to take over the office and threatening the speaker of the House,” Psaki said. “For those who are being critics of the vice president’s remark, instead of focusing or analyzing comparisons of moments in history, I would suggest they be a part of solving the threat to democracy that is happening today.” Joe Biden will speak about voter rights next week, an issue that Democrats say is our the next great challenge facing our democracy. Lawmakers like senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have tied the events of the 6 January attack to the attack on voter rights across the country. A big hurdle for passing nationalized voter rights protections is the filibuster, a parliamentary tool that Republicans have used repeatedly to block legislation. Schumer has set a deadline of 17 January, Martin Luther King Jr Day, for holding a vote to change the rules of the filibuster, but has yet to detail exactly what that would mean. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that Biden will speak more on the issue on Tuesday, but has already stated his support for changing filibuster rules “if that is a change that needs to happen”. White House press secretary Jen Psaki fielded a question about how Joe Biden never referred to Donald Trump by name in his forceful speech laying blame on his predecessor for the events of the 6 January attack of the US Capitol. “There’s only one president in the history of this country that fomented an insurrection which prompted the seizing of our nation’s Capitol. I think everybody knew who he was referring to,” Psaki said. “But as the president said today this day and the work we need to do moving forward is not about one person. It’s about the country reflecting on who we are in this moment, who we want to be moving forward, and what steps we need to take to protect our own democracy.” When asked for comment on Trump’s response to the speech, Psaki responded, “Well, it looks like he saw the speech. I guess that’s good news. Maybe he learned something.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki has taken the podium for today’s press briefing, and is immediately asked why now Joe Biden is going so hard at Donald Trump. This briefing is taking place mere hours after Biden squarely blamed Trump and his debunked lies about election fraud for the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. “The president launched his campaign on the idea that the former president posed a unique threat to our country,” Psaki said. “We’d argue that he never shied away from making clear that his predecessor posed a threat to democracy throughout the course of his presidency.” Psaki continued: “We are at an inflection point, in order to protect our democracy, to preserve it going forward, there is more we need to do. He made very clear that the risk we have at stake here is our democracy, burying what happened on January 6 and not taking action to protect people’s fundamental rights.” On the one-year anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, Joe Biden accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, of being the first president in US history to try to “prevent a peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol.” Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney has had a tumultuous year in the Republican party following the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. She was ousted from her leadership position in the Republican caucus over her refusal to stop blaming Donald Trump for inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol, and the Wyoming Republican party stopped recognizing her as a member after she voted to impeach him because of 6 January. It appears it got tense with her party even earlier though - the day of the 6 January attack. Cheney has now confirmed to the New York Times one infamous tidbit from that day: when she told her Republican colleague and staunch Trump ally congressman Jim Jordan that he “fucking did this”. Jordan had been standing in the aisle as members of Congress were being escorted away from the mob and he said to Cheney: “We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.” To which she sharply replied: “Get away from me. You fucking did this.” Donald Trump has issued another statement in response to the speech that Joe Biden gave today commemorating the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Once again, much of the statement is the former president repeating the disproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that “they’re the ones who tried to stop the peaceful transfer with a rigged election” - a statement that is not only false, because once again, all allegations that the election was rigged have been disproven, but makes no sense because had Trump won like he wanted to happen, there would not have been a transfer of power? He also does not specify who means by “they”. “To watch Biden speaking is very hurtful to many people,” he said. Nancy Pelosi commented on the large amount of Republicans that did not show up to remarks on the Capitol attacks of 6 January 2021. While speaking to a reporter from Business Insider about the lack of Republican attendance at today’s remarks, the House speaker said: “I think the message was very clear, by the president of the United States.” Wyoming representative Liz Cheney and her father, former vice-president Dick Cheney, were the only Republicans present for Pelosi’s speech compared with about 32 Democrats. Pelosi acknowledged during her speech that Covid-19 greatly reduced the number of Congress members attending her remarks in-person. Nancy Pelosi gives remarks on Capitol attack Nancy Pelosi has just finished delivering remarks on the events of 6 January 2021. The House speaker’s remarks began with a prayer from the House chaplain, Margaret Kibben, who spoke on the political turmoil following 6 January. “On this anniversary of national discord and despair, send your healing spirit among us and tend to the dispiritedness and disagreement here within and around the people’s house,” said Kibben. Pelosi then gave remarks, honoring personnel on the ground who helped protect members of Congress during the attack. “As we acknowledge the horror of that day, in the face of extreme danger, they all risked their safety for our democracy by protecting the Capitol complex, members, staff, press, etc,” said Pelosi. Pelosi also conducted a moment of silence to remember those who died on 6 January. A live stream is available at the top of the blog.