Newsman: President Joe Biden paid tribute Friday to the heroism displayed on Jan. 6, 2021, while also warning that the forces that fueled the violence at the U.S. Capitol still lurk.
Marking the second anniversary of one of the nation’s darkest days, Biden touted the nation’s healing over the last two years but condemned the riot at the very citadel of the nation’s democracy. He derided the mob “as sick insurrectionists” who wreaked havoc and drew blood in the name of Donald Trump.
“All of it was fueled by lies about the 2020 election,” Biden said. “But on this day two years ago, our democracy held. We the People, as our Constitution refers to us, ‘We the people’ did not flinch.”
“Our democracy was attacked. The U.S. Capitol was breached, which had never happened before in our nation’s history, even in the Civil War,” said Biden, who warned that the anti-democratic forces had not subsided.
“We know it could happen again,” Biden said. “There’s no guarantee. Except for us, except for all of you.”
President honors defenders of democracy while cautioning: ‘We know it could happen again.’
Biden made clear that the violence — which included gunshots fired in the Capitol, one death, and an armed occupation of the Senate floor — was born from the man who swore an oath to protect the very democratic traditions that rioters tried to undo in his name.
Biden also honored 14 Americans who stood up for democracy after the 2020 election, awarding medals to members of law enforcement, including Capitol Police officers who held off rioters including Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn and Eugene Goodman, as well as election officials who stood their ground in the face of Trump’s onslaught of lies.
Three of the medals given to law enforcement officers were done so posthumously: Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood of the U.S. Capitol Police and Jeffrey Smith of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police. Sicknick suffered a stroke the day after the riot; both Smith and Liebengood died by suicide in the wake of the insurrection.
“All of America watched it on television. America owes you,” the president said. “It owes you all a debt of gratitude, one we can never fully repay unless we live up to what you did.”
