Biden urges Americans to never forget Jan. 6 attack: 'Cannot allow the truth to be lost'

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden urged Americans on Sunday to never forget the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on their democracy and to not allow the history of that day to be rewritten.

"In time, there will be Americans who didn’t witness the Jan. 6 riot firsthand but will learn about it from footage and testimony of that day, from what is written in history books and from the truth we pass on to our children," Biden wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post.

"We cannot allow the truth to be lost," he said.

Biden’s remarks were published on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters staged an assault at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Trump, who lost that election to Biden but refused to admit defeat, encouraged his supporters on the morning of Jan. 6 to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell."

In a stunning political comeback in November, Trump was elected to a second presidential term. On Monday, Congress is scheduled to count the states’ electoral votes and certify the results of the November election.

Presiding over the vote count will be Vice President Kamala Harris in her role as the Senate president. Trump defeated Harris in November to win back the presidency.

A new Donald Trump era: Congress to certify election victory four years after Jan. 6 riot

'Day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed'

Biden, who leaves office in two weeks, told reporters at the White House on Sunday that while he is committed to a peaceful transfer of power, Americans cannot pretend the attack four years ago didn’t happen.

Speaking specifically of Trump, Biden said, “I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy, and I’m hopeful that we’re beyond it.”

In his op-ed, Biden noted that the vote count is expected to go smoothly on Monday, just as it has throughout history.

“For much of our history, this proceeding was treated as pro forma, a routine act,” he wrote. “But after what we all witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, we know we can never again take it for granted.”

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Americans should never forget what happened four years ago, Biden added.

"An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite – even erase – the history of that day," he said. "To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand."

"This is not what happened," he said.

Americans, Biden said, should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year "as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed” and understand that “democracy – even in America – is never guaranteed."

"We should never forget it is our democracy that makes everything possible – our freedoms, our rights, our liberties, our dreams," he said. "And that it falls to every generation of Americans to defend and protect it."

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden urges Americans to never forget Jan. 6 attack on Capitol