President Joe Biden Addresses January 6 Capitol Riot: 'Democracy Was Attacked'

President Joe Biden spoke on January 6, 2022, to reflect on the armed insurrection that took place on the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021. Four people at the rally were killed in the chaos and one Capitol police officer passed away the following day from injuries sustained during the attack.

“One year ago, in this sacred place, democracy was attacked,” Biden began. “Simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault. The Constitution, our Constitution, faced the greatest assault.”

“We the people endured, we the people prevailed,” Biden continued. “For the first time in our history, a President had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent a peaceful exchange of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol but they failed. They failed.”

He said that an event like that will never, never happen again.

“The Bible tells us that we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free,” he continued. “Here is the honest truth. Close your eyes. Go back to that day. What do you see?”

He talked about how over 140 police officers were injured as they were dragged and beaten by protestors. One police officer called it a “medieval battle” and that he was more afraid that day than he was serving in Iraq.

He called out former-President Donald Trump for not calling off the attack. “Doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, nation’s Capitol under siege,” he said.

“This wasn’t a group of tourists. It was an armed insurrection,” he continued. “They weren’t looking for a free and a fair election. They were looking to overturn one.”

Biden said that he did not want to bury the truth. He is addressing this today because he wants to “face” the truth.

“My fellows Americans, in life there is truth and there are lies, lies conceived and spread for profit and power. We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie and here is the truth: the former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He has done so because he values power over principle. Because he sees his own interest over the country’s interest, of America’s interest.”

“He can’t accept he lost, even though that’s what 93 US Senators, his own Attorney General,” and others had stated.

“He has done what no President in American history has ever, ever done,” he said. “He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people.”

He praised some of the courageous men and women in the Republican party who standing against Trump, while others are “transforming the party into something else.”

“I will always seek to work together with them,” he continued. “To find a shared resolution if possible. Because if we have a shared belief in democracy, then anything is possible. Anything.”

“So, in this moment, we must decide what nation we are going to be,” he continued. “Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but by the shadow of lies? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it.”

“The big lie being told by the former President and the many Republicans that fear this wrath is that the insurrection actually took place on election day, November 3, 2020,” he said.

“The election in 2020 is the greatest demonstration of democracy in the history of this country,” he continued. “More of you voted than any other election in this nation's history. Over 150 million Americans went to the polls and voted that day. In a pandemic.”

Although Trump and his supports say that the results of the election can’t be trusted, Biden said that no election in history had been more scrutinized than this one.

“He’s not just the former President,” he continued. “He’s the defeated President. In a full and fair election. There is zero proof that the election results were inaccurate.”

He said that the people who defecated in the hallways and “hunted down members of Congress” were not patriots. “To me, the true patriots were the more than 150 million Americans who peacefully voted at the ballot box.”

“You can’t love your county only when you win,” he added.

“They [the rioters] did not come here in service of America,” he continued. “They came here at the service of one man.”

Biden also spoke about the founding fathers, and how they set a precedent that power should be transferred peacefully. They set forth “an idea that couldn’t be constrained.”

“In America, all people are created equal,” he continued. “The former President who lies about this election, and the mob that attacked this Capitol, could not be further away from the true American values. They want to rule, or they will ruin what our country stands for.”

“We are in the battle for the soul of America,” he continued. “Believe me. I know how hard democracy is and I am crystal clear about the threats America faces but I also know that our darkest days can lead to light and hope.”

“I did not seek this fight,” he continued. “But I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation. Not allowing no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy. We will make sure that the will of the people is heard.”

“We are one nation, under God, indivisible, and forever at our best,” he concluded. “We are the United States of America, God bless you all, may God protect our troops, and may God bless those who stand watch over democracy.”

Biden's full address can be viewed below.