Kamala Harris spoke at the Capitol Thursday morning along with Joe Biden to mark the anniversary of the January 6 riot that disrupted the effort by President Trump and Republicans in Congress to lawfully challenge the certification of the votes of several states in the Electoral College. Harris opened her remarks comparing the Capitol riot that saw one person killed (by law enforcement) and a handful of deaths by natural causes (one of these deaths is now being looked at as being from a police beating) to the attacks at Pearl Harbor and on 9/11 that killed thousands of Americans.
Get used to Kamala Harris speaking at this lectern.
Fellow Americans, good morning.
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. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941. September 11th, 2001. And January 6th, 2021.
On that day, I was not only Vice President-elect, I was also a United States senator. And I was here at the Capitol that morning, at a classified hearing with fellow members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hours later, the gates of the Capitol were breached.
I had left. But my thoughts immediately turned not only to my colleagues, but to my staff, who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades.
A former Harris Senate staffer posted photos from January 6:
The main point of Harris’ speech was to push for the Democrats’ federal takeover of the nation’s elections:
You know, I wonder, how will January 6th come to be remembered in the years ahead?
Will it be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest, greatest democracy in the world or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come?
The American spirit is being tested.
The answer to whether we will meet that test resides where it always has resided in our country — with you, the people.
And the work ahead will not be easy. Here, in this very building, a decision will be made about whether we uphold the right to vote and ensure free and fair election.
Let’s be clear: We must pass the voting rights bills that are now before the Senate, and the American people must also do something more.
We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defense of our democracy in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our prosperity and posterity.
That is the preamble of the Constitution that President Biden and I swore an oath to uphold and defend. And that is the enduring promise of the United States of America.
My fellow Americans, it is my honor to introduce a public servant with the character and fortitude to meet this moment, a leader whose life’s work has been moving our nation toward that more perfect union: President Joe Biden.
Townhall posted video from two years ago of Kamala Harris agreeing with the claim that President Trump was “illegitimate.”