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Maanvi Singh (now) and Vivian Ho (earlier)

Biden to blame Trump for ‘chaos and carnage’ of 6 January attack – as it happened

Trump supporters at the Capitol on the day of the attack last year. Jen Psaki said: ‘President Biden has been clear-eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy.’
Trump supporters at the Capitol on the day of the attack last year. Jen Psaki said: ‘President Biden has been clear-eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy.’ Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Today's recap

  • Joe Biden plans to highlight “the singular responsibility of President Trump for the chaos and carnage that we saw” in remarks tomorrow, on the anniversary of the 6 January insurrection. Trump memorably referred to “American carnage” to paint a dystopian picture of the land in his first speech as president, at his inauguration on 20 January 2017.
  • Attorney general Merrick Garland provided an update on the justice department’s investigation into the 6 January attack. He said that though the department has filed charges against 725 defendants in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia, “the actions we have taken thus far will not be our last”.
  • More than 40% of Americans still do not believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, according to a new Axios-Momentive poll. The poll, released on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, found that 55% of those surveyed believe Biden won the election. That figure has barely changed since Axios’s poll from 2020, published shortly before the insurrection.
  • Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have voted to recommend Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for children aged 12-17. The CDC’s director Rochelle Walensky is expected to make the recommendation official policy, clearing the way for adolescents to receive their boosters immediately. The panel voted 13-1, recommending boosters for all children 12-17 who received their last dose at least five months back.

– Guardian staff

Updated

More than 40% in US do not believe Biden legitimately won election.

Maya Yang reports:

More than 40% of Americans still do not believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, according to a new Axios-Momentive poll.

The poll, released on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, found that 55% of those surveyed believe Biden won the election. That figure has barely changed since Axios’s poll from 2020, published shortly before the insurrection. That poll, published in 2020, found 58% said that they accepted Biden as the legitimate winner of the presidential election.

Despite Biden’s inauguration, the attack on the Capitol and the multiple investigations that have debunked the lies pushed by the former president that the election was stolen, the poll suggests that the same level of doubt persists.

“It’s dispiriting to see that this shocking thing we all witnessed last year hasn’t changed people’s perceptions,” Laura Wronski, senior manager for research science at Momentive, told Axios.

A majority of Americans also said they are expecting a repeat of the deadly 6 January attack in the next few years.

The polls, conducted from 1 to 5 January of this year, surveyed nearly 2,700 adults, and found nearly 57% – about half of Republicans and seven in 10 Democrats – believe that events similar to the attack are likely to occur again.

In addition, nearly two-thirds or 63% said that the 6 January attack has at least temporarily changed the way they think about their democratic government. A third said that those changes are temporary. Nearly as many, 31%, said that those changes are permanent.

About 37% of those surveyed said they had lost faith in American democracy, while 10% said they had never had faith in the system. Another 49% said they do have faith. Among those surveyed who said they have lost faith, 47% said they were Republicans while 28% were Democrats.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they supported the investigative work of the House select committee investigating the riot. Among those, 88% are Democrats, 58% are independents and 32% are Republicans.

Just slightly more than half of American adults, 51%, said individuals associated with the insurrection should face criminal penalties if they refuse to comply with subpoenas.

Read more:

Updated

CDC panel endorses boosters for children 12-17

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have voted to recommend Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for children aged 12-17, and the CDC’s director Rochelle Walensky is expected to make the recommendation official policy, clearing the way for adolescents to receive their boosters immediately.

The panel voted 13-1, recommending boosters for all children 12-17 who received their last dose at least five months back. The recommendation comes as schools across the country scramble to reopen safely as they grapple with staff shortages and the Omicron variant, which appears to be infecting children at higher rates than previous variants of the coronavirus.

Adolescents 16 and older were already recommended for boosters, but today’s vote expands the age group. Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Pfizer-BioNTech boosters for adolescents and endorsed waiting for five rather than six months between one’s last dose and the booster. The FDA also recommended an additional dose for immunocompromised children aged five to 11.

Updated

US sanctions Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik for ‘destabilizing activities’

The US has imposed new sanctions on the Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, a television station under his control and two other officials for “significant corruption and destabilizing activities”.

The sanctions, involving asset freezes and visa bans, follow Dodik’s threat to withdraw Serbs from the Bosnian national army and other state-level institutions, potentially destroying the 1995 Dayton peace treaty and opening the way for a return to conflict.

Official statements accompanying the sanctions focus on the corruption which US officials say underpin Dodik’s political posturing.

“His divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric reflects his efforts to advance these political goals and distract attention from his corrupt activities,” a Treasury statement said.

“Cumulatively, these actions threaten the stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of BiH and undermine the Dayton Peace Accords, thereby risking wider regional instability.”

It said Dodik had handed government contracts and monopolies in the Serb-run half of Bosnia, Republika Srpska (RS) to close business associates. “With his corrupt proceeds, Dodik has engaged in bribery and additional corrupt activities to further his personal interests at the expense of citizens in the RS,” the Treasury said.

Dodik has already been sanctioned in 2017, for obstruction of the Dayton accord. The new measures are wider, criminalizing financial donations to him, and targeting Alternativna Televizija, a television station based in Banja Luka, the biggest town in the RS. The channel is privately owned by a company closely linked to Dodik’s family, the Treasury said, and operates as Dodik’s personal propaganda outlet.

Read more:

Today so far

  • Joe Biden plans to use his remarks tomorrow, the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, to speak of “the singular responsibility of President Trump for the chaos and carnage that we saw”.
  • Attorney general Merrick Garland provided an update on the justice department’s investigation into the 6 January attack, saying that though the department has filed charges against 725 defendants in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia, “the actions we have taken thus far will not be our last”. “The justice department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” he said.

Updated

One year later, the FBI still has not arrested the person caught on video planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee ahead of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Grainy surveillance video shows a hooded figure placing the bombs at about 7.30pm on 5 January 2021, ABC reports. Investigators later found the devices amid the chaos of the 6 January attack, and at first believed they were merely a diversion tactic.

That theory has since been shot down.

“This person laid or planted two viable explosive devices in a residential and commercial area that could have done people harm,” Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, told ABC. “We want to catch this person before they do someone else harm.”

Updated

It was a quiet week already for the Senate, with Monday’s snow keeping everyone out of session for Monday and Tuesday (and Tim Kaine stuck in traffic for 27 hours, lest we forget).

Now it appears to be staying that way:

While attorney general Merrick Garland and his speech today will not have assuaged any critics who are calling for the justice department to act more swiftly and judiciously with their investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, the reaction to his remarks has mostly been positive:

At one point, Garland began talking about the debunked claims of widespread voter fraud - claims he pointed out were debunked by officials in both administrations - and how these claims are now being used to restrict the rights of voters.

Updated

Attorney general Merrick Garland quietly acknowledged the frustration with the speed and scope of the justice department’s investigation, making a point to describe how investigators must build a foundation first with the easy cases to get to the big cases.

“To ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must collect the evidence,” he said. “We follow the physical evidence, we follow the digital evidence, we follow the money. But most importantly, we follow the facts. Not an agenda, not an assumption, the facts tell us where to go.”

Updated

Attorney general Merrick Garland said thus far, the justice department has filed charges against 725 defendants “in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia” in connection to the 6 January attack.

Of those defendants, 325 were charged with felonies - 20 have already pleaded guilty.

Garland noted that investigators have “issued 5,000 subpoenas, seized 2,000 devices, pored through 20,000 hours of video footage and searched through 15 terabytes of data”.

“The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last,” he said. “The justice department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”

Attorney general Merrick Garland has taken the podium to reaffirm that the justice department’s commitment to defending the American democracy. He alluded to a major point in the Biden administration’s agenda: voter rights protections.

“We will protect the cornerstone of our democracy: the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts,” he said.

Tomorrow, Joe Biden will address the nation on the anniversary of one the worst days in the country’s history, the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Now it appears far-right representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene will be providing a response.

As a reminder, many have voiced unhappiness with the justice department and how attorney general Merrick Garland has been handling the investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol - the main criticism being that the justice department has not taken enough action, gotten to the origins of the organizing behind the attack or made any mention about Donald Trump’s role in the whole event.

In a moment, attorney general Merrick Garland will provide remarks on the justice department’s investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Watch live here.

Updated

In previewing some of what Joe Biden will say tomorrow when he makes remarks at the US Capitol on the insurrection there last January 6 by Donald Trump supporters, it’s interesting to note that press sec Jen Psaki flagged the word “carnage”, for which the sitting US president will blame his predecessor.

Joe Biden in Delaware last year.
Joe Biden in Delaware last year. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Of course Trump memorably referred to “American carnage” to paint a dystopian picture of the land in his first speech as president, at his inauguration on January 20, 2017.

As the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington noted on the day, Trump: “coined the sinister phrase “American carnage” to vividly conjure an image of inner cities he said were afflicted by crime, a political elite that had forgotten ordinary people, and a landscape of rusted factories like tombstones.

Ed continued:

And with Hillary Clinton watching only a few painful feet away, Trump left no one in any doubt that he intends to unleash what he called a new vision of “America first” on the world, delivering a brutal and unrepentant speech that made little attempt to soothe the world or begin the healing of an agitated and anxious nation.

Trump delivered a 16-minute inaugural speech that more closely resembled his thunderous addresses from the campaign trail than the oratorical heights of his predecessors, berating the Washington elites of both parties for ignoring the American people and allowing inner cities to fester in “crime and gangs and drugs.

The American carnage stops right here, right now. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first.”

It hardly seems accidental that Psaki used the word today and appeared to indicate that Biden is likely to use it tomorrow to assert that rather than living up to his promise during his campaign that “I alone can fix it”, Trump unleashed chaos and finally carnage on American governance.

Speaking earlier at the White House, Psaki also noted, in her preview of Biden’s planned speech tomorrow on Jan 6, that as well as castigating Donald Trump, the president will “of course speak to the moment, to the importance in history of the peaceful transfer of power, of what we need to do to protect our own democracy and be forward looking, but he will also reflect on the role his predecessor had” in inciting the insurrection by his supporters at the US Capitol last year, in a vain attempt to prevent the official certification by congress of Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Updated

Biden to blame Trump for 'chaos and carnage' of insurrection

At the White House media briefing today, press secretary Jen Psaki flagged that when Joe Biden makes remarks at the US Capitol tomorrow morning to mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection by extremist supporters of Donald Trump, he will make a strong statement.

She said Biden “is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril it posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance.”

She went on to say that the current US president will also talk of the work still needed to strengthen American democracy “to reject the hate and lies we saw on January 6 and to unite our country.”

Psaki said: “President Biden has been clear-eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy and how the former president constantly works to undermine basic American values and the rule of law. And President Biden has of course spoken repeatedly about how the former president abused his office, undermined the constitution and ignored his oath to the American people in an effort to amass more power for himself. and his allies.”

Biden, the White House continued, “sees January 6 as the tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country and they reflected the importance to the president of winning … the battle for the soul of our nation.”

“I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw,” Psaki said.

“And he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters,” she added.

Updated

Interim summary

It’s been an expectant and reflective morning in Washington as those in the capital prepare for the anniversary tomorrow of the Trump-inspired insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6 last year.

Stay tuned for the rest of the day’s coverage of US political news as it happens.

Here’s where things stand:

  • Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary under Donald Trump, will meet today with the House select committee tasked with investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, CNN is reporting
  • Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, is tweeting out what leading Republicans said in the immediate aftermath of the violence a year ago, condemning the insurrection and blaming Donald Trump, in a bid to “not let them forget”.
  • Just 55% of Americans polled believe Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election - even though proof of his legitimate victory has been established in courts across the country time and time again, a new Axios-Momentive poll is reporting .
  • As Washington prepares for the January 6 insurrection’s anniversary, attorney general Merrick Garland will deliver remarks this afternoon on the investigation by the justice department into the attack. This is separate from the investigation by the special congressional bipartisan committee that we’ve been hearing so much from in recent months, led by the committee chair, congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

While the Republicans of Congress may be a little wishy-washy when it comes to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol - and exactly who bears responsibility for it - the White House said Americans should be prepared for Joe Biden to speak tomorrow about “the singular responsibility of President Trump for the chaos and carnage that we saw”.

“President Biden has spoken repeatedly about how the former president has abused his office, undermined the constitution and ignored his oath to the American people in order to amass more power for himself and his allies,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at today’s press briefing.

Updated

Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham to meet with 6 January committee

CNN is reporting that Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary under Donald Trump, will meet today with the House select committee tasked with investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Grisham was fired from as press secretary and White House communications director in April 2020, replaced by Kaleigh McEnany. She returned immediately as chief of staff to then-first lady Melania Trump.

Grisham was one of the longest serving members of the Trump administration, starting her time with Trump as a press aide on his campaign. On 6 January, she became the first administration official to resign as a result of the attack.

Grisham confirmed in her memoir that on 6 January, she sent Melania Trump a text asking, “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?” Melania Trump, who CNN reported was conducting a photo shoot of some carpets in the White House that she had had installed, replied: “No.”

It wasn’t until 11 January that Melania Trump acknowledged the insurrection.

Speaking of the 147 members of Congress who objected to the certification of the 2020 election result, HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery asked all of them, one year later, if they thought Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fairly - a fact that has been proven in courts across the country again and again at this point.

Nearly all declined to answer, Bendery said.

Though Rick Scott, the senator from Florida, responded with, “He’s the constitutionally elected president. I’ve said it like a zillion times” - he told HuffPost that he did not regret voting against certifying the election result.

Senators Josh Hawley and Tommy Tuberville both had similar answers - that Biden won the election fairly, but they did not regret their vote against certifying that win.

Only one aide out of the 139 House Republicans who voted against certification responded to Bendery’s inquiries - congressman Pete Sessions does not regret his vote, and still had concerns about widespread voter fraud, allegations of which, once again, have never been proven.

However, congressman Tom Rice told Politico last month that he should have voted to certify “because President Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol.”

“In the wee hours of that disgraceful night, while waiting for the Capitol of our great country to be secured, I knew I should vote to certify,” Rice said. “But because I had made a public announcement of my intent to object, I did not want to go back on my word. So, yeah, I regret my vote to object.”

The Insurrection Index has identified more than 1,000 Americans in positions of public trust who acted as accomplices in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election result, either by participating in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol or spreading the “big lie” that the vote count had been rigged.

This index was set up by Public Wise, a voting rights group whose mission is to fight for government that reflects the will and the rights of voters, with legal advice from Marc Elias, one of the most influential election lawyers in the US who was Hillary Clinton’s top counsel in the 2016 presidential campaign and who successfully led Joe Biden’s resistance to Trump’s blitzkrieg of lawsuits contesting the 2020 results.

Some of the individuals listed in the index include:

  • Mark Finchem, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives who was present at Trump’s “stop the steal” rally in Washington on 6 January and who is now vying to become Arizona secretary of state – the top election official who oversees the presidential count.
  • Jake Hoffman, a lawmaker who represents Arizona’s 12th district, who wrote to fellow Republicans a day before the Capitol insurrection urging them to pressure then vice-president Mike Pence into blocking Biden’s victory.
  • The 147 members of Congress who objected to the certification of the 2020 election results.

The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington has more here:

The Guardian’s David Smith takes a look at the control that Donald Trump has had on the Republican party - and how it’s grown since the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Here’s a sweet story from one of the worst days in our country’s history.

Politico Huddle tells the tale of how in the chaos of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, Joe Lowry, the director of emergency preparedness for the House of Representatives, found a gold earring on the floor of the house chamber balcony.

Assuming it was lost in the rush to safety, he tweeted out his discovery, hoping to reunite it with its owner. After holding onto the earring for almost an entire ear, he tried again, just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the attack.

Almost immediately, Politico reporter Sarah Ferris recognized it as hers. She went back after evacuation to try and find it, but to no avail.

Ferris told the Huddle that she had borrowed those earrings from her mother, who is now “very thrilled I didn’t forever lose her favorite earrings.”

With one day to go to the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, congressman Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, is tweeting out what Republicans said in the immediate aftermath of the violence in a bid to “not let them forget”.

All these quotes have been previously reported and the ones republished below are fact-checked. But after a year of hearing leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell backtrack - plus, you know, the whole acquittal of Donald Trump in his second impeachment - it’s jarring to remember how strongly they spoke against the former president in the days that followed.

Report: Nearly half of Americans still doubt Biden won 2020 presidential election

A new Axios-Momentive poll is reporting today that just 55% of Americans polled believe Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election - even though proof of his legitimate victory has been proven in courts across the country time and time again.

Of those polled, 26% definitively said no, they did not believe Biden legitimately won - a fact that has, once again, been proven false - and 16% said they were not sure.

About 37% of those surveyed say they’ve lost faith in American democracy, while 10% said they never had any faith. But this figure skews more toward the right than toward the left — 47% of Republicans said they lost faith while only 28% Democrats agreed.

Ahead of the anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, about 57% of Americans — about half of Republicans and seven in 10 Democrats — believe that more events like 6 January will happen in the next few years. Only about 58% said they support the work of the House select committee investigating the events of 6 January — 88% among Democrats, 58% among independents and 32% among Republicans.

Washington prepares for anniversary of 6 January attack

Ahoy there, live blog readers. Happy Wednesday.

Much of today’s focus appears to be in preparation of tomorrow’s anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Attorney general Merrick Garland will deliver remarks this afternoon on the investigation by the justice department into the attack. The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin noted that for some, “patience is wearing thin with Garland”, who has yet to tie Donald Trump to the events of the insurrection.

“Garland does not want to give specifics about who is being investigated and for what. Fine. But he then must describe the crime,” Rubin wrote. “On the eve of the anniversary of the Capitol riot, he must explain in clear terms that the assault on democracy was both violent and nonviolent, beginning well before 6 January.”

Ahead of Garland’s remarks, senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will be speaking about the attack at the senate rules committee oversight meeting. Reminder that earlier this week, Schumer connected the anniversary of the attack to another attack on our democracy - the attack on voter rights. He laid down a plan to hold to a vote by or on 17 January, Martin Luther King Jr Day, to change the rules to the filibuster, a parliamentary tactic that Republicans have used repeatedly to block voter rights legislation, using strong language about the 6 January anniversary.

Meanwhile, Trump has cancelled his planned Mar-A-Lago press conference for tomorrow, just as the House select committee investigating the attack requested the cooperation of Trump adviser and Fox News host, Sean Hannity. Politico is reporting that this news came as a relief to congressional Republicans, who knew they’d be asked to give a response to whatever Trump said.

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