WASHINGTON D.C. (WBAP/KLIF News) – On the one year anniversary of the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, President Biden addressed Americans from Statuary Hall.
He touched on many topics, including praising the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s efforts to defend the building amid the violence.
“Fire extinguishers being thrown at the heads of police officers. A crowd that professes their love for police officers assaulted them…dragged them, sprayed them, stomped on them. Over 140 police officers were injured. They repeatedly asked after that day ‘How dare anyone diminish, belittle or deny the hell they were put through,” he said.
The President told citizens that despite the attack, the rioters did not win.
“Democracy was attacked. The will of the people was under assault. The Constitution, our Constitution, faced the gravest of threats. Outnumbered in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the National Guard saved the rule of law,” he said.
President Biden also laid blame of former President Donald Trump, who after declaring that the election was stolen, held a “Stop The Steal Rally” in Washington D.C. just before the riot.
“He can’t accept he lost. Even though that’s what 93 United States Senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battle ground state have all said ‘He lost’,” he said.
Biden then put the question to Americans, “What kind of nation are we going to be?”
“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as the norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it,” said President Biden.
The Justice Department said more than 725 people have been arrested nationwide, including dozens in North Texas, for their alleged involvement in the riot.
North Texas historians weighed in on how this day will be viewed for years to come.
“I think in time it’s going to be remembered as December 7th and 9/11. I don’t think we’re there yet to be honest. I think as Americans as historical professors we’re still trying to process what happened,” said Southern Methodist History Professor Jeffrey Engel.
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