Four years after the Capitol riot, President Joe Biden slammed the alleged efforts to “rewrite” the history of that day as Congress convenes to certify another presidential election.
On Jan. 6, 2021, the joint session of Congress to certify Biden’s presidential election win was interrupted by a violent riot, which resulted in the death of one rioter but continued despite damage to the Capitol building and threats to lawmakers’ lives.
Exactly four years later, a joint session of Congress will meet to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, and Biden wrote, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, that people should not forget the 2021 riot.
“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day. To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand,” Biden wrote. “This is not what happened.”
“In time, there will be Americans who didn’t witness the Jan. 6 riot firsthand but will learn about it from footage and testimony of that day, from what is written in history books and from the truth we pass on to our children. We cannot allow the truth to be lost,” he added.
Biden argued that people should not forget the 2021 riot and “should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year.”
“Violent insurrectionists attacked the Capitol, threatened the lives of elected officials and assaulted brave law enforcement officers,” Biden wrote. “We should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault. And we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year.”
Since the 2021 riot, Democrats, including Biden, have run on a platform reminding the public of Jan. 6, 2021, and alleging that Republicans, like Trump, were a threat to democracy. The pitch was taken up by Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris in their respective 2024 presidential runs but failed to resonate with voters.
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Harris, as president of the Senate, will preside over the session certifying her election loss to Trump.
Since the multiple security failings of the 2021 riot, Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies have changed their plans to avoid another unruly incident at this year’s joint session of Congress.
