Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday after she compared the Capitol riot to the S...
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday after she compared the Capitol riot to the September 11 terror attacks in her speech marking one year since the deadly events of January 6.
He also criticized the volume of media coverage and Democrat attention going toward the insurrection, claiming they were treating it like 'Christmas.'
'Look, if you obstruct a proceeding, all about holding people accountable. If you're rioting, hold them accountable,' DeSantis told reporters.
'But let's just be clear here: When they try to act like this is something akin to the September 11 attacks, that is an insult to the people that were going into those buildings,' he added in reference to New York City's twin towers that collapsed when hit by two passenger planes.
During her speech Harris also compared January 6 to the assault on Pearl Harbor.
'Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault,' Harris began. 'December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001 and January 6, 2021.'
In the coordinated terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, 2,977 people were killed. In the Pearl Harbor bombing, 2,403 Americans lost their lives.
DeSantis criticized the media's coverage of January 6 and accused outlets of 'milking' the riot
Asked about his feelings a year out from the insurrection, the Republican governor used it as an opportunity to attack media coverage of its first anniversary.
'It's interesting how everything in our society becomes very politicized, and so today -- honestly, I'm not going to watch any of it -- you're going to see the D.C./New York media, this is their Christmas, January 6,' DeSantis said.
'"They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump.'
In her Capitol remarks Harris alluded to civil rights fights of the past century.
'What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders ... what they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed and shed blood to establish and defend.'
'We cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes, and peddling lies and misinformation by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent, but whose roots run old and deep.'
'Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault,' Harris began
Harris then called the U.S. the 'oldest and greatest democracy in the world.'
'I wonder, how will January 6 be come to be remembered?' Harris said. 'Will it be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest and greatest democracy in the world? Or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come?'
Democracy was coined by the Greeks in 430 B.C., means 'for the people' and many communities such as Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Britain, San Marino and Switzerland have had democracies dating back to the ninth and tenth centuries.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said critics of Harris' 9/11 comparison were using the remarks as an 'excuse.'
'Instead of, for those who are being critics of the vice president’s remarks, I think instead of focusing on, or analyzing comparisons of moments in history, I would suggest that they be a part of solving the threat to democracy that occurs today … They are using this as an excuse not to be a part of that.'
Biden and Harris arrive to speak from Statuary Hall at the Capitol
'Here is the truth,' Biden said. 'The former president of the United States of America created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election'
Artist Stephen Parlato, who is demonstrating against the January 6th attackers, holds a banner in front of the U.S. Capitol on the first anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack
On Jan. 6, 2020, hundreds of Trump supporters marched from his 'Save America' rally to breach Capitol security as members of Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence were certifying the vote in favor of Biden. Four people died in the chaos of the day, and one injured Capitol police officer died a day later.
Arizona's GOP Rep. Andy Biggs' questioned Harris' 9/11 and Pearl Harbor comparisons.
'Kamala compared Jan6 to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers. Fear-baiting and truth-twisting at its finest,' Biggs wrote on Twitter.
The vice president then pivoted to a push for legislation to expand voting rights.
'The violent assault that took place here, the very fact of how close we came to an election overturned, that reflects the fragility of democracy,' she said. 'The American spirit is being tested.'
'Here in this very building, a decision will be made about whether we uphold the right to vote and ensure free and fair elections. Let's be clear - we must pass voting rights bills that are now before the Senate.'
Biden, meanwhile, used his speech to tear into former President Trump.
'We saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House. Literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the United States of America,' Biden recalled. 'What did we not see? We didn't see a former president, who just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in a private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours.'
'Here is the truth,' Biden continued. 'The former president of the United States of America created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.'
Trump did so 'because he values power over principle. Because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest, than America's interest,' Biden said.
'And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution,' Biden stated. 'He can't accept he lost.'
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said that Harris' and Biden's speeches were an 'attempt to resurrect a failed presidency.'
'Their brazen attempts to use January 6 to support radical election reform and changing the rules of the Senate to accomplish this goal, will not succeed,' the senator wrote on Twitter. 'The Biden Administration seems to be incapable of dealing with the challenges America faces, and their efforts to politicize January 6 will fall flat.'
The Senate has put back and forth negotiations on Biden's Build Back Better social spending bill on the back burner and pivoted toward bills that would expand voting rights. Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened to use a 'nuclear option' to break the 10-vote filibuster if senators don't come to an agreement by Martin Luther King Jr. day.
After Democrats swept the House, Senate and presidency in 2020, GOP-led states like Georgia, Arizona and Texas pushed through new voting restrictions, particularly ones that made mail-in voting more difficult.
Democrats have called the restrictions 'racist' and say they disproportionately impact young voters and voters of color who lean Democratic.
House Democrats have passed two voting bills, but they've been stuck in the Senate as 60 votes are needed to overrule a filibuster in the split 50-50 upper chamber, where Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.
Thought Schumer has pitched changing the rules so there's a carve-out for the voting rights bills, he's getting resistance from moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
He needs every Democratic senator to support the move.
Speaking from the Capitol Tuesday night, Manchin said the 'filibuster needs to stay in place any way, shape or form that we can do it,' according to Punchbowl News.
Biden wipes his eye as Harris delivers her remarks commemorating Jan 6
She compared the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol one year ago to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and 9/11
A fiery blasts rocks the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001 in New York City, killing nearly 3,000
Thick smoke billows up from stricken American warships during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, December 7, 1941, killing 2,400
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