Biden urges Americans not to rewrite, or forget, Jan. 6, 2021

President Joe Biden, who has attempted to oversee a smooth transition by withholding criticism of President-elect Donald Trump, has grown more animated about their differences ahead of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“I think it should not be rewritten. I don’t think it should be forgotten,” he told reporters at the White House on Sunday afternoon. He expanded upon the remarks at an evening event and in a new opinion piece published Sunday night by The Washington Post.

“But I don’t think we should - if you notice, I’ve reached out to make sure the smooth transition, we’ve got to get back to basic, normal transfer of power. I don’t think we should pretend it didn’t happen,” he said, referring to the mob of Trump supporters who assaulted the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Speaking about Trump specifically, Biden added: “I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy, and I’m hopeful that we’re beyond it.”

It was his latest effort to remind Americans of how imperiled he views the country’s democratic norms. He also in recent days awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, honoring her for speaking out against Trump and for investigating his actions in the Jan. 6 attack. Trump attacked Cheney on social media over the award and has suggested that she and other members of the House committee that investigated the Capitol assault “should go to jail.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will take the gavel Monday for what has largely been a ceremonial afterthought through much of history, as members of Congress gather to officially certify the election results ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration.

In the new opinion piece in The Post, the president also sought to contrast the transfer of power that he is overseeing with the one that Trump oversaw four years ago.

“For much of our history, this proceeding was treated as pro forma, a routine act,” Biden wrote in the op-ed. “But after what we all witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, we know we can never again take it for granted.”

He wrote that the country should be proud that it withstood the assault four years ago and that the transition of power has been peaceful now. But he also said that efforts need to be made to remember what transpired.

“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite - even erase - the history of that day,” he wrote. “To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand. This is not what happened.”

He called on the country to remember Jan. 6, 2021, every year, much as the country marks other tragic days, such as Sept. 11, 2001.

“The election will be certified peacefully. I have invited the incoming president to the White House on the morning of Jan. 20, and I will be present for his inauguration that afternoon,” Biden wrote. “But on this day, we cannot forget.”

Trump in recent days has continued to criticize then-Vice President Mike Pence over his role in certifying the 2020 election results and declaring Biden the winner. And Trump has also pledged to pardon people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection within minutes or hours of taking office.

Biden also remarked about the anniversary when speaking to Democratic members of Congress who came to the White House on Sunday night.

“It’s a day that most of our history we took for granted, the sixth, but I hope we never take it for granted again,” he said. “You know, four years ago, Jan. 6, this Capitol was attacked by a violent mob.”

He invited members to come with him later to the Oval Office to see where Trump sat as the attack unfolded that day.

“I’ll show you the room that the former president sat in for 3½ hours watching what was going on on television, a small dining room … off the Oval Office,” he said. “Our democracy was really, literally put to the test. And thankfully, our democracy held.”

“Now it’s your duty to tell the truth, to remember what happened. And not let Jan. 6 be rewritten, or even erased,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest days in American history, Jan. 6.”