Biden to sharpen attack on Trump in Jan. 6 anniversary speech

© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters on the one-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS/ File Photo

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – President Joe Biden will observe the third anniversary of the January 6 attacks on the U.S Capitol with a political speech near the historic Revolutionary War site in Valley Forge where he will make the case that his top Republican rival Donald Trump poses an existential threat to democracy, the reelection campaign said on Wednesday.

The stop near the war encampment in Pennsylvania will be followed by a campaign visit on Monday to Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist in 2015 killed 9 parishioners at the historic Black church. Biden will focus on what the campaign described as rising threats of political violence.

Taken together, the two visits will represent Biden’s most direct public attacks this election cycle on Trump and the Republican party he controls, representing a shift in tone after spending much of 2023 touting his signature legislation and the economy.

“The choice for voters next year will not simply be between competing philosophies of governing. The choice for the American people in November 2024 will be about protecting our democracy and every American’s fundamental freedoms,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez.

Thousands of Trump supporters attacked the U.S Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a bid to stop formal certification of the Republican president’s election defeat, causing millions of dollars in damage. Four people died on the day of the attack, and one Capitol Police officer who fought against the rioters died the next day. Four officers have since taken their own lives and 140 others were injured.

Trump faces federal charges for his wide-ranging attempts to overturn the 2020 election and was kicked off ballots in Colorado and Maine due to his role in fueling the Capitol attack. Lawyers for Trump have disputed that he engaged in insurrection and argued that his remarks to supporters on the day of the 2021 riot were protected by his right to free speech.

Trump holds a marginal 2-point lead in a head-to-head matchup, 38% to 36%, with 26% of respondents saying they were unsure or might vote for someone else, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination by a wide margin, the poll showed.

In the upcoming weeks, the Biden reelection campaign will ratchet up operations and events, including hiring key directors in all 50 states and hitting the airwaves with new ads.

Vice President Kamala Harris is also expected to speak at the early voting primary state of South Carolina on Saturday and again on Martin Luther King Jr. Day later this month, where she is also expected to take a message about threats to democracy to the state’s largely Black Democratic electorate.