Kamala Harris compares Jan. 6 to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as a date that will 'echo throughout history'

On its one-year anniversary, Vice President Kamala Harris said the date of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will be remembered in a similar fashion as Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Harris delivered remarks Thursday on the anniversary of a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters storming the Capitol building to prevent the certification of President Biden's election win. The vice president opened her speech by saying that "certain dates echo throughout history" and remind "all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing," and Jan. 6, 2021 is one of those dates.

"Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory," Harris said. "Dec. 7, 1941, Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Harris described Jan. 6 as a day when "our democracy came under assault," saying the "extremists" who attacked the Capitol sought to "degrade and destroy" the "institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend." The attack showed "what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful," and it reflected both the "fragility" and the "strength" of democracy, she added.

Harris did not name former President Donald Trump during her remarks, but she criticized those "peddling lies and misinformation." She closed her speech by calling for the passage of voting rights bills and for Americans to "unite in defense of our democracy."

Harris spoke prior to remarks from President Biden, who criticized Trump without directly mentioning his name, calling him "not just a former president," but a "defeated former president."