'Violence, chaos and lawlessness': Harris speech to condemn 'full-on assault' on democracy
Vice President Kamala Harris will not be mincing words in a speech she's scheduled to deliver today at an African Methodist Episcopal church in South Carolina marking the 3rd anniversary of the January 6 attacks.
The Messenger reports that Harris will use her speech to warn Americans about the "full-on assault" the GOP is waging on democracy and human rights, and to condemn the "violence, chaos and lawlessness" of the attack on the US Capitol three years ago.
"They used violence and fear to try to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and to overrule the votes of millions of Americans," read Harris' speech, portions of which were released by her office on Friday.
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Harris will be the keynote speaker at the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society's annual retreat in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, as the second element of a White House blitz aiming to highlight the threat of a second Donald Trump presidency. Harris' speech comes after President Joe Biden's Friday speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania — the site where George Washington headquartered the Revolutionary War's campaign against King George III's forces — that condemned his predecessor's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
"Let's be clear about the 2020 election. Trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the election — every one," Biden said on Friday. "But the legal path just took Trump back to the truth: That I’d won the election and he was a loser."
During Harris' speech, the vice president aims to establish a clear difference between the Republican agenda and that of the Biden administration. A key portion of that speech is highlighting what the Biden White House has done for Black Americans, as well as a promise to fight for abortion rights.
"On one side, they want to ban books," Harris plans to say. "On the other side, we want to ban assault weapons. They think the government should tell a woman what to do with her body. We trust women, and women trust us to protect their fundamental freedoms."
READ MORE: 'That date has some significance': Trump plans Iowa rally on 3rd anniversary of Jan. 6 riot
Trump will be marking January 6 in a markedly different way — with a campaign rally in Iowa. The former president has repeatedly referred to rioters as "patriots," "political prisoners" and hostages, and has promised to pardon vast swaths of them if elected.
