Jan 3, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Biden will target Trump in speech at war site on Jan. 6 anniversary

Axios

Jill and Joe Biden — President Biden sports a sunburn as he and First Lady Jill Biden leave St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Tuesday after their New Year's trip. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Biden will mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at a key site in the Revolutionary War, kicking off the campaign year with a speech on the fate of American democracy, AP reports.

Why it matters: The move makes clear that the Capitol insurrection — and former President Trump's link to it — will form an important part of Biden's 2024 campaign messaging as he struggles in the polls.

Driving the news: Biden will deliver remarks in Valley Forge, Pa., where the Continental Army, led by George Washington, was encamped between 1777 and 1778, CBS reports.

"There, he'll decry former President Donald Trump for the riot by a mob of his supporters who overran the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election," AP writes.
On Monday, Biden will visit the church in Charleston, S.C., where a white gunman massacred Black parishioners in 2015.

The announcement comes after Axios first reported that the Biden campaign was planning a push in South Carolina this month in an effort to drive voter turnout — a shift in strategy after focusing on traditional battleground states.

Between the lines: Biden will highlight some of America's darkest days rather than his accomplishments as president, AP notes. At both events, he'll paint Trump as a threat to the country's founding principles.

In response, Trump official Jason Miller told Axios' Mike Allen: "When is Biden going to the border?"

Go deeper: Fox will host Trump town hall during CNN's GOP primary debate

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Biden will target Trump in speech at war site on Jan. 6 anniversary

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