Biden to call Trump on the anniversary of the riot at the Capitol

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Released on: 05/01/2022 – 22: 22Updated: 05/01/2022 – 22:20

Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden will kick Donald Trump by calling him on Thursday for “single responsibility” in stirring up unrest on Jan. 6 last year, when supporters of the outgoing Republican leader stormed the Congress.

Biden’s decision to use his anniversary speech to explicitly blame Trump and Republican allies for their role in the unprecedented attack on U.S. democracy will mark a sharp rise in his approach to Trump and the chaos.

In the first year of his presidency, Biden chose to ignore Trump, who still refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and continued to spread conspiracy theories to his millions of followers about being the real winner. .

But in a speech from inside the Capitol Statuary Hall – where exactly a year ago a Trump mob passed by to try and stop certification of Biden’s election victory – the Democratic president firmly blamed his relieved, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

“I expect President Biden to highlight the importance of what happened at the Capitol and President Trump’s sole responsibility for the chaos and murder,” he said.

“President Biden is clear -eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy,” he said.

US President Joe Biden, pictured on January 4, 2022, will give a speech from inside the Capitol Statuary Hall on the anniversary of the riot at the Capitol MANDEL NGAN AFP

When asked if Biden would use Trump’s name, Psaki said “we’re finishing the speech, but I think people will know who he’s referring to.”

Last Wednesday, Capitol police chief Thomas Manger said his forces would not be caught unprepared again, as they had last year.

And Attorney General Merrick Garland also vowed to do justice, saying “he is committed to holding all offenders accountable on January 6, to any degree, under the law-if they were present that day. or otherwise be criminally responsible for the attack on our democracy. “

The senior Republican skipped the anniversary

However, in the field of politics, the country remains dangerously divided.

Emphasizing the stunning partisan split, senior Republicans seem set to skip the commemorations organized by the Democratic-led Congress on Thursday, including Biden’s speech and a prayer vigil.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and others from his party are scheduled to leave Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the funeral of the late senator Johnny Isakson.

In an opinion piece on Fox News, Republican Senator Josh Hawley, a leading supporter of false claims that suspected Biden’s victory in 2020, referred to Jan. 6 as a “demonstration” that broke with “some demonstrators “.

Former US President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 election MANDEL NGAN AFP/File

“Gathering for a political demonstration is not a crime. On the contrary, it is a right explicitly protected by the US Constitution,” he wrote.

Trump himself continues to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen by Biden – a conspiracy theory dispelled by numerous court findings and vote returns.

He was planning a press conference at his Florida home to steal the limelight on Thursday, but abruptly abandoned the plan in a statement Tuesday that nonetheless continued to claim that the 2020 election was a “crime.”

Writing in The New York Times, former Democratic president Jimmy Carter said the United States was “now on the brink of widening abyss. Without immediate action, we are in real danger of civil strife and losing the our precious democracy. Americans must put aside differences and work together before it’s too late. “

Destruction of democracy

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called for an in -depth look at the state of the country after the ugly stage.

“If the roots of the violence are not addressed on January 6, the insurrection is not an aberration that it can be the norm,” he warned.

The invasion of the US Capitol: how it opened up to the AFP

In his speech, Garland said that so far authorities have arrested and charged approximately 725 people nationwide in connection with the attack.

However, after noticing that the Justice Department was too slow to confront the leaders and address accusations of a more deeply dangerous plan to overthrow the election, Garland pleaded for patience, suggesting that investigators were moving on the chain.

“We resolve more direct cases first because they provide an evidentiary foundation for more complex cases,” he said.

“Such behavior disrupts the peace of our public spaces and undermines our democracy. We are all Americans. We must protect each other,” he said.

© 2022 AFP

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