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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 7 Januari 2022

Biden decries Trump backers’ ‘dagger at throat’ of democracy

“Unfortunately, too many in mocracy.”
my own party are embrac-
ing the former president, On the House floor, where
are looking the other way or many members were evacu-
minimizing the danger,” she ated and some were trapped
told NBC’s “Today.” “That’s as the rioters tried to break in,
how democracies die. We House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
simply cannot let that hap- drew on history with a hope
pen.” that Americans would turn
to their “better angels” to re-
She was joined by her father solve differences. She deliv-
Dick Cheney, the former vice ered private remarks to Hill
president and now a respect- staff who, as she told The As-
ed Republican Party elder, sociated Press in an interview
who was greeted warmly by Wednesday, had stayed a year
several Democrats. He stood ago to “protect our democ-
with her and Democrats for racy.”
a moment of silence on the
House floor. The Senate also convened a
moment of silence.
He said in a statement: “I am
deeply disappointed at the Biden’s sharp message and
failure of many members of the Republicans’ distance
my party to recognize the from it come as lawmak-
(AP) — President Joe that took place here on Janu- day. Instead, in one of several grave nature of the January ers are adjusting to the new
Biden accused Donald ary 6 as a true expression of statements Thursday, he said 6 attacks and the ongoing normal on Capitol Hill —
Trump and his supporters the will of the people. Can Biden was trying to “further threat to our nation.” the growing tensions that
of holding a “dagger at the you think of a more twisted divide America. This politi- many worry will result in
throat of democracy” in a way to look at this country, to cal theater is all just a distrac- The Senate also convened a more violence or, someday,
forceful speech Thursday look at America? I cannot.” tion.” moment of silence. a legitimate election being
marking the anniversary overturned. Democrats and
of the deadly attack on the The president’s remarks Even among congressio- Democrats investigating the a handful of Republicans
U.S. Capitol. He warned launched the start of daylong nal Republicans who con- insurrection plan to spend feel a desperate urgency to
that though it didn’t suc- remembrance, drawing a demned the attack in the days the coming months telling connect to a public in which
ceed, the insurrection re- contrast between the truth of afterward, most have stayed the American people exactly some have come to believe
mains a serious threat to what happened and the false loyal to the former president. what happened last Jan. 6 Trump’s lies that the election
America’s system of gov- narratives that persist about with a series of public hear- was stolen from him and that
ernment. the Capitol assault, includ- “What brazen politicization ings. the attack wasn’t violent at all.
ing the continued refusal by of January 6 by President
Biden’s criticism was blister- many Republicans to affirm Biden,” tweeted Sen. Lind- Biden and his administration A new poll from The Asso-
ing of the defeated president that Biden won the 2020 sey Graham, R-S.C., a some- have come under criticism ciated Press-NORC Center
whom he blamed for the election. times Trump confidant. Oth- from some in his party for not for Public Affairs Research
assault that has fundamen- ers, including Senate Repub- forcibly explaining to Ameri- showed that 3 in 10 Repub-
tally changed Congress and “We must be absolutely clear lican leader Mitch McCon- cans the ways democracy is licans say the attack was not
the nation, and raised global about what is true and what nell, were absent, with a con- at risk, or pushing Congress violent, and about another
concerns about the future of is a lie,” Biden said. “The for- tingent attending the funeral hard enough to pass election 3 in 10 say it was somewhat
American democracy. mer president of the United for a former colleague Sen. and voting rights legislation violent. Around two-thirds
States of America has spread Johnny Isakson in Georgia. that is stalled by a filibuster in of Americans described the
“For the first time in our a web of lies about the 2020 Far-right Reps. Marjorie Tay- the Senate. day as very or extremely vio-
history, a president not just election.” lor Greene and Matt Gaetz lent, including about 9 in 10
lost an election, he tried to stood by their refusal to cer- Barack Obama, the former Democrats.
prevent the peaceful transfer He said: “We are in a battle tify Biden’s election that day president, said “nothing is
of power as a violent mob for the soul of America.” — “We’re ashamed of noth- more important” on the an- As Biden is prepared to di-
breached the Capitol,” Biden ing,” Gaetz said on a podcast. niversary than ensuring the rect blame toward the for-
said. “You can’t love your “I did not seek this fight, right to vote. mer president, the percent-
country only when you win.” brought to this Capitol one The division is a stark re- age of Americans who blame
year from today. But I will minder of the rupture be- “While the broken win- Trump for the Jan. 6 riot has
His voice booming at times, not shrink from it either. I tween the two parties, wors- dows have been repaired and grown slightly over the past
filling the ornate Statuary will stand in this breach, I ening since hundreds of many of the rioters have been year, with 57% saying he
Hall where rioters had laid will defend this nation. I will Trump’s supporters violently brought to justice, the truth bears significant responsibil-
siege, the president called allow no one to place a dag- pushed past police, used their is that our democracy is at ity for what took place.
on Americans to remember ger at the throat of this de- fists and flagpoles to break greater risk today than it was
what they saw Jan. 6 with mocracy.” through the windows of the back then,” Obama said in a In an AP-NORC poll taken
their own eyes: the mob at- Capitol and interrupted the statement. in the days after the attack,
tacking police, breaking win- Republican leaders and law- certification of Biden’s vic- 50% said that.
dows, a Confederate flag makers largely stayed away tory. Biden’s address, and that of
inside the Capitol, gallows from the day’s events, dis- Vice President Kamala Harris Trump’s claims of widespread
erected outside threatening missing them as overly politi- Rep. Liz Cheney, chair of the who is leading the adminis- election fraud were rejected
to hang the vice president cized — some continuing to House committee investi- tration’s efforts on the voting by the courts and refuted by
— all while Trump sat at the spread false claims about the gating the attack and one of and elections legislation, ap- his own Justice Department.
White House watching it on election. the few GOP lawmakers at- peared as a direct response to
TV. tending the Capitol ceremo- critics. An investigation by the AP
From Florida, Trump showed nies, warned that “the threat found fewer than 475 cases
“The former president’s sup- no signs of letting go, and in continues.” Trump, she said, “We must pass voting rights of voter fraud among 25.5
porters are trying to rewrite fact revived his unfounded “continues to make the same bills,” said Harris, addressing million ballots cast in the six
history. They want you to attack on the elections. He claims that he knows caused those gathered. “We cannot battleground states disputed
see Election Day as the day accepted no responsibility violence on January 6.” sit on the sidelines. We must by Trump, a minuscule num-
of insurrection and the riot for egging on the crowd that unite in defense of our de- ber in percentage terms.