President Joe Biden tried to emphasize the importance of the January 6 Committee hearings on Capitol Hill on Friday but admitted he was too “busy” to watch them himself.
“It’s important the American people understand what truly happened and to understand that the same forces that led to Jan. 6 remain at work today,” Biden said.
Democrats aired the first public hearing of the select committee to investigate the January 6 protests on Thursday night in prime time to generate the maximum coverage and audience.
“I didn’t get to watch them last night because I was doing other business,” Biden said. “But I tell you what, there’s a lot going on.”
The president again described the January 6 protests as “a brutal assault on our democracy.”
“We’re seeing how the battle for the soul of America has been far from won,” Biden said, referencing his 2020 presidential campaign slogan. “But I know together, and I mean this, we can unite, Democrat and Republican, allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy.”
Biden has repeatedly condemned former President Donald Trump’s actions for trying to “overthrow democracy” on January 6, despite polls showing that fewer Americans believe that the former president was solely responsible for protesters storming Capitol Hill to protest the 2020 presidential election.
An NBC News poll showed that in January 2021, 52 percent of Americans blamed Trump for the riots, but only 45 percent believed the same thing in May 2022.