Biden marks Jan. 6 anniversary by calling Trump a threat to democracy and freedom

In his first major campaign event of 2024, President Joe Biden on the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, delivered a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to argue democracy and fundamental freedoms are under threat if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.

In what seemed to be especially personal remarks, Biden said Trump and far-right extremists are a threat and a danger to the freedoms on which the country was founded, echoing familiar themes he argued during the 2020 campaign, which he then called «a battle for the soul of the nation.»

«The topic of my speech today is deadly serious. And I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign,» he began on Friday.

«Today we are here to answer the most important of questions: Is democracy still America's 'sacred cause'?» he continued, repeating a phrase used by George Washington. «This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical. Whether democracy's still America's 'sacred cause' is the most urgent question of our time. And it's what the 2024 election is all about.»

The president was closely involved in writing the speech, aides told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, after he met this week with historians and scholars at the White House.

«The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him. Not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future,» Biden said. «He's willing to sacrifice our democracy, [to] put himself in power.»

Later in his remarks, he said, «Today, I make this sacred pledge to you, the defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency. America, as we begin this