President Joe Biden plans to address the nation on Jan. 6 as the U.S. marks one year since the storming of the Capitol.
Without offering details, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden would make some kind of speech to commemorate the deadly attack carried out by thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“It’s safe to say the American people will hear from him on that day,” Psaki said. “We’ll have more to say as we get closer.”
Biden’s decision to address the nation sets up a dramatic direct conflict with Trump, who says he will hold a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that day.
Congress plans a “solemn commemoration” and prayer vigil to remember the shocking attack, in which Trump supporters sought to block lawmakers from certifying Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The mob, many of them members of white nationalist groups, marched on the Capitol after Trump urged them in a rally that morning to go there and “fight like hell” to overturn his election defeat.
The rioters overwhelmed outnumbered police and marauded for hours through the Capitol, hunting down perceived enemies including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence.
After initially tepidly opposing the attack, Trump supporters have since turned to cheerleading the attackers and downplaying the seriousness of the mob attack.
Trump now insists that the riot was nothing more than a peaceful protest to dramatize his claims of election fraud, for which he has failed to provide any evidence.
The ex-president says he’ll tell reporters about new developments in his seemingly never-ending effort to cast doubt on Biden’s win in several swing states, even though Republican election officials and judges have dismissed his claims out of hand.
Trump is increasingly feeling the heat from the congressional select committee investigating Jan. 6.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., an outspoken critic of Trump who broke ranks with the GOP to join the committee, has suggested the panel has uncovered evidence that he obstructed the work of Congress by planning and inciting the attack.
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