President Joe Biden will mark the first anniversary of the deadly Capitol insurrection seeking to rally Democrats around voting rights legislation, with a warning that inaction risks emboldening extremist followers of former President Donald Trump before the crucial midterm elections.
The president and his allies in Congress plan a full slate of events Thursday marking the Jan. 6 riot, preaching unity to a politically fractured nation — and members of his own party, divided for months over legislative priorities including new social safety programs, climate initiatives and voter protections.
Yet Biden’s task has been complicated by Trump himself. The former president has turned Jan. 6 into a fealty test for fellow Republicans by obliging them to reject the new administration and accept his revisionist account of the deadly attack waged by his supporters to disrupt certification of his electoral defeat.
Many Republicans — including lawmakers who came under siege that day and criticized Trump in the immediate aftermath — have in recent months fallen silent, sidestepping questions about the integrity of the 2020 election and the former president’s culpability in the riot, underscoring Trump’s continued grip on the conservative base.
Trump late on Tuesday canceled a news conference planned on Jan. 6 at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, saying he would instead discuss his unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and other grievances at a rally later in the month. He blamed...
Why it Matters Federal research agencies face mounting pressure to prevent fraud in grant-making, and Congress is moving to hold them accountable. A House subcommittee grant fraud hearing schedule...