White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealed on Wednesday what President Joe Biden will say tomorrow during a speech that he will give on Capitol Hill.
Psaki’s comments come after former President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was canceling a press conference that he was planning to hold Thursday, January 6.
“The president’s going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the parallel it posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance,” Psaki said. “He will also speak to the work we still need to do to secure and strengthen our democracy and our institutions to reject the hatred and lies we saw on January 6th, and to unite our country. I’d also note that President Biden has been clear eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy and how the former president constantly works to undermine basic American values and rule of law.”
“And President Biden has, of course, spoken repeatedly about how the former president abused his office, undermined the Constitution, and ignored his oath to the American people in an effort to amass more power for himself and his allies,” Psaki said. “He sees January 6th as a tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country. And they reflected the importance to the president of winning what he has called many times, and you’ve heard him call many times, the soul, the battle for the soul of our nation. So just as you heard him say on January 6th of last year, I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters, as well as distract from his role in what happened.”
WATCH:
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says Pres. Biden tomorrow will address former president Trump’s role in the Capitol attack, including the "singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage we saw.” pic.twitter.com/Q90VlUIoqL
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 5, 2022
TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: One of the questions that I have, tomorrow the President is going to speak on Capitol Hill. Is he going to address his predecessor’s role in the riot?
JEN PSAKI, PRESS SECRETARY: Yes. And let me give you a little more preview of that. So, in addition, and I know I noted this yesterday, but I think it’s important for people to let me briefly reiterate, the president’s going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the parallel it posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance. He will also speak to the work we still need to do to secure and strengthen our democracy and our institutions to reject the hatred and lies we saw on January 6th, and to unite our country. I’d also note that President Biden has been clear eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy and how the former president constantly works to undermine basic American values and rule of law. And President Biden has, of course, spoken repeatedly about how the former president abused his office, undermined the Constitution, and ignored his oath to the American people in an effort to amass more power for himself and his allies. He sees January 6th as a tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country. And they reflected the importance to the president of winning what he has called many times, and you’ve heard him call many times, the soul, the battle for the soul of our nation. So just as you heard him say on January 6th of last year, I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters, as well as distract from his role in what happened. So, he will, of course, speak to the moment, to the importance in history of the peaceful transfer of power, of what we need to do to protect our own democracy and be forward looking, but he will also reflect on the role his predecessor had.