Democracy advocates worry about January 6 being relegated to the background of debates

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first presidential debaterepublican Donald Trump flew over the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitolhas denied responsibility for the violent mob siege and has repeatedly refused to state unequivocally that he will accept the results of this year’s vote. White House election.

And President Joe Bidenwho declared that the job of his presidency was to restore the soul of the nation, failed and flounderedfailing to forcefully confront, contradict and hold Trump, the indicted former president, accountable for the attack on the election – and democracy.

It is an extraordinary moment, or lack thereof, that is alarming for democracy advocates, as the sweeping efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the ensuing insurrection that defined the Trump presidency disappeared in the opening debate of the general election campaign.

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democrat who chaired the House inquiry on Jan. 6 during the last Congress, said it was a deeply unfortunate situation.

“We could have a January 6th 2.0,” Thompson said Friday outside the Capitol.

The result underscores the choice Americans will face this fall, as the 2020 election-related riots remain fundamental to, but also obscured by, the 2024 campaign, despite the four-count federal indictment against Asset to work cancel results four years ago, on the eve of the violent siege and despite the condemnation of more than 1,000 people in the attack on the Capitol.

It comes as the Supreme Court assesses cases involving January 6, including a decision on Friday that makes things easier for some rioters to contest their charges and convictions, and another expected Monday on whether Trump can claim immunity in the federal election case.

In total, what seemed politically untenable, as Trump, defeated, left Washington dejected on the day of Biden’s inauguration, January 20, 2021, is now within reach since the president who tried to overturn an election is the presumptive Republican Party nominee, moving closer to a return to the Oval Office.

“We are four months away from the first presidential election since a violent attack on our Capitol. … And the man responsible for that — Donald Trump — is currently the front-runner,” said Ian Bassin, executive director of the advocacy group Protect Democracy, which works to combat authoritarianism.

“You would think that alone would be disqualifying, or at a minimum, it would be the focal point of the election,” he said.

And yet, Bassin said, the issue has been “relegated to the background” of the debate, “and the current president has a hard time arguing why this issue should be of existential importance.”

The forum itself is not necessarily to blame. The The moderators pressed the candidatesasking Trump not once, but repeatedly, if he would commit to not holding another January 6th and to accepting the results of the election this time.

Trump insisted he had “virtually nothing to do” with the January 6 storming of the Capitol and tried to shift the blame to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, repeating his rhetoric. false allegations about the delay in sending the National Guard.

Biden, whose disappointing debate performance of delayed answers and dragging thoughts plunged the Democratic Party into turmoil, struggled to provide a coherent response, although he delivered high-profile speeches on the January 6, including the first anniversary.

“Look, he encouraged these people to go up to the Capitol,” Biden said on the debate stage.

Thompson, whose committee produced a lengthy report of more than 1,000 pages on its investigation into Trump’s months-long attempt to overturn the election and storming of the Capitol, said Biden missed a “golden opportunity” to setting the record straight as millions watched the election. debate.

The answer was left to the people who lived through January 6, to the lawmakers who fled to safety as the mob of Trump supporters approached. The rioters, many wielding flagpoles and wearing tactical gear, engaged in brutal and bloody hand-to-hand combat, battling U.S. Capitol Police for access to the building.

“January 6 was a dark day,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on social media.

“Insurgents inspired by Trump sought to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power,” he said. Schumer denounced the Supreme Court’s “shameful decision” on Friday, which he said “will embolden anti-democratic radicals and make it more difficult for our justice system to try insurrectionists.”

Pelosi said Trump presented “another pack of lies” during the debate. “How dare he blame January 6 on anyone other than himself, the instigator of an insurrection?”

On Friday, the Supreme Court limited a federal obstruction law that was used to indict Trump, along with hundreds of Capitol riot defendants. While the decision will likely prompt a review of some of the rioters’ cases, it’s unclear what impact it will have on Trump’s indictment, which includes other charges.

At a rally Friday in Chesapeake, Virginia, Trump said a “great thing” had just happened in response to the obstruction ruling, to chants of “USA!” from the crowd.

“They should be released immediately, immediately,” Trump said of the defendants he called “J6 hostages.”

A more energetic Biden, at his own rally in the swing state of North Carolina, said: “The choice in this election is simple. Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend him.”

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.