President Joe Biden urged Americans on Sunday to never forget the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on their democracy and to not allow the history of that day to be rewritten.
“In time, there will be Americans who didn’t witness the Jan. 6 riot firsthand but will learn about it from footage and testimony of that day, from what is written in history books and from the truth we pass on to our children,” Biden wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post.
“We cannot allow the truth to be lost,” he said.
Biden’s remarks were published on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters staged an assault at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Trump, who lost that election to Biden but refused to admit defeat, encouraged his supporters on the morning of Jan. 6 to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
In a stunning political comeback in November, Trump was elected to a second presidential term. On Monday, Congress is scheduled to count the states’ electoral votes and certify the results of the November election.
Presiding over the vote count will be Vice President Kamala Harris in her role as the Senate president. Trump defeated Harris in November to win back the presidency.