(CNSNews.com) - When President Biden speaks on Thursday at a event marking the one-year anniversay of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, he will talk about the need to "secure and strengthen our democracy" and "unite the country," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a news conference on Tuesday.
A reporter asked Psaki if she had "anything to share" about what Biden will say when he goes to Capitol Hill tomorrow:
"Sure. Absolutely. I can give you some highlights at this point in time," Psaki said:
And obviously, the president is still working through and reviewing his own remarks. But on the afternoon -- what you can expect, I should say, is that the president will speak to the historical significance of January 6th and what it means for the country one year later.
As a reminder, on the afternoon of January 6, the president called what was happening at the Capitol then, an unprecedented assault on our democracy, and an attempt to subvert our Constitution and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. So, on Thursday, the president is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governments -- governance.
He will also mark that day, commemorate the heroes of January 6th, especially the brave men and women of law enforcement who fought to uphold the Constitution and protect the Capitol and the lives of the people who were there. Because of their efforts, our democracy withstood an attack from a mob and the will of the more than 150 million people who voted in the presidential election was ultimately registered by Congress.
And he will also speak to the work we still need to do to secure and strengthen our democracy and our institutions, to reject the hatred and lies we saw on January 6th, and to unite our country. And obviously, we'll have more to preview as we get closer to the speech.
Biden, speaking four days after the 2020 election, pledged to be "a president who seeks not to divide, but unify" the country. But more than a year later, the country is more divided than ever.
And continuing to this day, Democrats have seized on the January 6 attack by angry Trump supporters to disparage Republicans in general and all Trump supporters in particular.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter to Democrats dated January 3, 2022, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) compared the “violent insurrectionists” to “Republican officials”
"As we all are witnessing, the attacks on our democracy have not ceased," Schumer wrote, invoking the January 6 attack:
In fact, they have only accelerated. Much like the violent insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol nearly one year ago, Republican officials in states across the country have seized on the former president’s Big Lie about widespread voter fraud to enact anti-democratic legislation and seize control of typically non-partisan election administration functions.
While these actions all proceed under the guise of so-called “election integrity”, the true aim couldn’t be more clear. They want to unwind the progress of our Union, restrict access to the ballot, silence the voices of millions of voters, and undermine free and fair elections. They wish to propagate the Big Lie perpetuated by the former president that our elections are not on the level.
Make no mistake about it: this week Senate Democrats will make clear that what happened on January 6th and the one-sided, partisan actions being taken by Republican-led state legislatures across the country are directly linked, and we can and must take strong action to stop this anti-democratic march...
Schumer and other Democrat activists are hoping that memories of the attack, and video replayed on cable-TV outlets, will produce momentum for their voting legislation, which would set federal rules for elections that are run by the states.