President Joe Biden celebrated the prosecution of hundreds of his chief political rival’s supporters Friday, nearly three years after the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Biden appeared before a crowd in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania — near Valley Forge — on Friday afternoon, to address the January 6 Capitol riot, focusing his speech on former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
“Since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol, and nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty. Collectively to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison,” Biden said to the applause of the crowd.
“What’s Trump done? Instead of calling them criminals, he’s called these insurrectionists ‘patriots’ … and he promises to pardon them if he returns to office,” Biden added. “Trump said they’re was a lot of love on January 6. The rest of the nation, including law enforcement, saw a lot of hate and violence.”
Biden brags about pro-Trump protesters being sentenced to 840 years in prison pic.twitter.com/74YO9qRUvF
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 5, 2024
Immediately following the storming of the Capitol, the FBI began a years-long investigation into those who were present or participated in the massive demonstration on Capitol Hill as Congress met to vote on certification of the 2020 election. Since then, the Department of Justice has charged 452 people with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, which includes 123 people “who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”
The vast majority of the charges — 1,186 — are for “entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds.” Some who weren’t even present at the Capitol on January 6 have also been sentenced. Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years behind bars, the longest January 6 sentence to date, after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Trump also faces federal charges in a case related to January 6 as an indictment unsealed by special prosecutor Jack Smith levels four counts at the former president: conspiracy to violate civil rights, conspiracy to defraud the government, corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to carry out such obstruction, The New York Times reported. Trump pleaded not guilty to the January 6-related charges, accusing Smith of “putting out yet another Fake Indictment.”
“I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M.,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
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In his speech on Friday, Biden also painted a grim picture of his political rival and what the 2024 election means for the future of America.
“Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is what the 2024 election is all about,” Biden said. “The choice is clear. Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. Our campaign is different.”