0 it's impossible to deny that. >> as president biden will discuss this morning january 6th represents an ongoing threat to our democracy. in the year since nearly 20 states have passed laws to restrict voting and in many republican circles trump's big lie about the 2020 election still goes unchallenged. bottom line, january 6 has become a stark testament to the fractured nation we've become and warning sign for what is coming next. with us throughout the hour, nbc's monica alba, she covers the white house, garrett haake on capitol hill, ellison barber outside the capitol, katie benner covers the justice department for "the new york times", phil rucker senior washington correspondent for the "washington post," eugene daniels co-author of the "politico" playbook and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." monica, let's start with the president. how is he going to approach this one? >> he's going to mark, of course, the solemn anniversary, steph, but instead of making this all about looking backward the president is also going to be talking about what lies ahead and the danger that still lingers from everything that took place on that day a year ago. he will talk about how dark it was, he will honor, of course, those who lost their lives, but he's also going to very clearly call out his predecessor, the former president, and talk about the responsibility that donald trump has for what took place on january 6th, and he's not going to mince any words there, even though he may not reference him by name it will be very clear we're told by white house officials who he is talking about, and when he does that he's going to ask a series of questions to the nation, asking and talking about the importance of truth and what kind of country the united states wants to be. in terms of larger themes, there have been many democrats, including majority leader chuck schumer, who have called for the president to talk about voting rights in this particular moment and what's at stake with democracy. we are told the president will make reference to that, but he is not going to he can to us as exclusively on that, he's going to reserve that speech for a big, big, big remarks and that topic in particular next week with that in atlanta, but you're going to hear vice president kamala harris who will introduce the president just a short time from now make reference to that. of course, voting rights has been a part of her portfolio, but to really talk about the big picture here, this is a president who is going to talk about a year ago when he wasn't sworn in yet what he saw on that day, the danger that the former president contributed to and how that's really been calcified in the big lie of the election falsehoods that as you just referenced has reverberated not just with republican lawmakers but at the state level and, again, what that means for the future of the united states and democracy and all that's at stake. >> peter, when you look back it seems incredible that today president biden will be speaking to a nation where more voters want trump to run in 2024 than biden. that would have been unthinkable on january 7th, 2021. on january 7th it seemed like mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham were done with trump forever. >> yeah, you go back 364 days and told the people, told ourselves that january 7th, 2021, what january 6th, 2022 looked like, people would have been stunned. there was a sense that trump was done, that he would be ostracized for this, even republicans were furious as him, as you say, mitch mcconnell, lindsey graham, even kevin mccarthy they all said he bore responsibility for what happened and there was a bipartisan revulsion to some extent, but that faded pretty quickly. we've seen again how quickly trump asserted his dominance in the party thanks to people like kevin mccarthy who went to mar-a-lago who said he was still in effect the party's leader. you have a dynamic where this event that took place a year ago is just one more partisan reg wedge in our ongoing ideological cultural war where we see this now through our own separate partisan lens, if you are a democrat or some republicans, many republicans, you see it as an assault on democracy. if you are a trump supporter, you see it as monica said a legitimate protest that got out of hand and that the real crime was this supposedly stolen election, for which, of course, there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever. and the statement put out by republicans today who are not attending these events are mostly attacks on president biden, the democrats, for failed policies in their view in making this event partisan. it's a real divide. we are no longer united, we probably weren't very united even then a year ago, but today even less so. >> despite the fact, garrett, that on january 6th they were coming for the establishment, democrats, republicans, mike pence himself, but today contrast for us how democrats are going to be marking this day and how republicans are. because it's certainly not together. >> reporter: it's the same date on both of their calendars but they are looking at it almost entirely differently other than that. as all the events today were organized by democratic leadership, the president of the united states on down to the speaker of the house with events all day long and they will be attended by almost exclusively democrats, no congressional house republicans expect for perhaps liz cheney expected to attend, kevin mccarthy isn't even in washington, d.c. today. no senate republicans to my knowledge are expected to attend any of these events, although many of them, a majority of that conference will be at the funeral for one of their own former georgia senator johnny isakson down in georgia. the divide overall speaks to, you know, what peter and monica were talking about, the ways in which the partisan viewpoints around january 6th have been completely calcified, locked in place. i could tell you that started immediately. i mean, we think about it happening in the days and weeks afterwards, but i was just going back through my notes from the 6th and found an interview i did with ron johnson, republican senator from wisconsin, who told me that night before the vote counting was even done that he said republicans, himself, donald trump took no responsibility for what had happened. so the rewriting of history around january 6 continued on the last january 6th, it continues through this one and i suspect it will continue through all the anniversaries to come of this day. >> we are less than a minute from the president taking the podium. eugene, karl rove wrote an op-ed in the "wall street journal" arguing that if the shoe were on the other foot and democrats had been the one trying to overturn donald trump's win republicans would be losing their mind. so the question is do the majority of republicans who are embracing the big lie, do they actually believe it or is this just a political calculation? >> it's hard to know, honestly, because what we know is that they follow donald trump, his whim, how he feels about things. that's what we're seeing. so whether or not they believe it actually in their heart of hearts and their brain of brains almost doesn't matter because all of the actions show us that they do seem to believe t and more importantly, they're operating within this country, changing election laws based on that lie. you have a republican party that has been white washing this as everyone has been saying, but also how they can't untie the big lie, the lie about this election, from the voting rights and the tightening of voting restrictions around the country. i will put an even finer point on it, if these were black and brown people, people who were blm protesters or something like that it would have been a completely different day than we saw that day and i think that's something that this white house and this president are grappling with. >> i'm going to interrupt. we are seeing coming to the podium vice president kamala harris and president biden. kamala harris beginning her remarks momentarily. >> fellow americans, good morning. certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault. dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. december 7th, 1941. september 11th, 2001. and january 6th, 2021. on that day i was not only vice president-elect, i was also a united states senator. i was here at the capitol that morning, at a classified hearing with fellow members of the senate intelligence committee. hours later, the gates of the capitol were breached. i had left, but my thoughts immediately turned not only to my colleagues, but to my staff who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades. what the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders, what they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. what they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of americans have marched, picketed and shed blood to establish and defend. on january 6th we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful. the lawlessness, the violence, the chaos. what was at stake then and now is the right to have our future decided the way the constitution prescribes it, by we the people, all the people. we cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes and peddling lies and misinformation. by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent, but whose roots run old and deep. when i meet with young people they often ask about the state of our democracy, about january 6th, and what i tell them is january 6th reflects the dual nature of democracy. its fragility and its strength. you see, the strength of democracy is the rule of law. the strength of democracy is the principle that everyone should be treated equally, that elections should be free and fair, that corruption should be given no order. the strength of democracy is that it empowers the people. and the fragility of democracy is this, if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand. it will falter and fail. the violent assault that took place here, the very fact of how close we came to an election overturned, that reflects the fragility of democracy, yet the resolve i saw in our elected leaders when i returned to the senate chamber that night, their resolve not to yield, but to certify the election, their loyalty not to party or person, but to the constitution of the united states, that reflects its strength. so, of course, does the heroism of the capitol police, the d.c. metropolitan police department, the national guard and other law enforcement officers who answered the call that day, including those who later succumbed to wounds, both visible and invisible. our thoughts are with all of the families who have lost a loved one. i wonder how will january 6th come to be remembered in the years ahead. will it be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest, greatest democracy in the world, or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come. the american spirit is being tested. the answer to whether we will meet that test resides where it always has resided in our country, with you, the people. and the work ahead will not be easy. here in this very building a decision will be made about whether we uphold the right to vote and ensure free and fair elections. let's be clear. we must pass voting rights bills that are now before the senate, and the american people must also do something more. we cannot sit on the sidelines, we must unite in defense of our democracy in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our prosperity and posterity. that is the preamble of the constitution that president biden and i swore an oath to uphold and defend and that is the enduring promise of the united states of america. my fellow americans, it is my honor to introduce a public servant with the character and fortitude to meet this moment. a leader whose life's work has been moving our nation toward that more perfect union. president joe biden. >> madam vice president, my fellow americans, to state the obvious, one year ago today in this sacred place democracy was attacked, simply attacked. the will of the people was under assault, the constitution, our constitution, faced the gravest of threats, outnumbered in the face of a brutal attack the capitol police, the d.c. metropolitan police department, the national guard and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law. our democracy held. we the people endured. we the people prevailed. for the first time in our history a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the capitol. but they failed. they failed. on this day of remembrance let us make sure that such an attack never, never happens again. i'm speaking to you today from statuary hall in the united states capitol. this is where the house of representatives met for 50 years in the decades leading up to the civil war. on this floor is where a young congressman from illinois, abraham lincoln, sat at desk 191. above him, above us, over that door leading into the rotunda is a sculpture depicting cleo, the muse of history. in her hands an open book in which she records events taking place in this chamber below. cleo stood watch over this hall one year ago today as she has for more than 200 years. she recorded what took place, the real history, the real facts, the real truth. the facts and the truth that vice president harris just shared and that you and i and the whole world saw with our own eyes. the bible tells us that we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. we shall know the truth. well, here is the god's truth about january 6, 2021, close your eyes, go back to that day. what do you see? rioters rampaging, waving for the first time inside this capitol confederate monuments flags that symbolized the cause to destroy america, to rip us apart. even during the civil war that never ever happened, but it happened here in 2021. what else do you see? a mob breaking windows, kicking indoors, breaching the capitol. american flags on poles being used as weapons, as spears. fire extinguishers being thrown at the heads of police officers. a crowd that professes their love for law enforcement assaulted those police officers, dragged them, sprayed them, stomped on them. over 140 police officers were injured. we all heard the police officers who were there that day testify to what happened. one officer called it, quote, a medieval battle, and that he was more afraid that day than he was fighting the war in iraq. they have repeatedly asked since that day how dare anyone, anyone diminish, belittle or deny the hell they were put through. we saw with our own eyes rioters menaced these halls, threatening the life of the speaker of the house. literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the united states of america. what did we not see? we didn't see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the oval office in the white house watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, the nation's capitol under siege. this wasn't a group of tourists, this was an armed insurrection. they weren't looking to uphold the will of the people, they were looking to deny the will of the people. they were looking to uphold -- they weren't looking to uphold a free and fair election, they were look to go overturn one. they weren't looking to save the cause of america, they were looking to subvert the constitution. this isn't about being bogged down in the past, this is about making sure the past isn't buried. that's the only way forward. that's what great nations do. they don't bury the truth, they face up to it. it sounds like hyperbole, but it's the truth. they face up to it. we are a great nation. my fellow americans, in life there's truth and tragically there are lies. lies conceived and spread for profit and power. we must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. and here is the truth, the former president of the united states of america has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. he's done so because he values power over principle. because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest and america's interest. and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. he can't accept he lost, even though that's what 93 united states senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battle ground state have all said. he lost. that's what 81 million of you did as you voted for a new way forward. he has done what no president in american history, the history of this country has ever, ever done, he refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the american people. while some courageous men and women in the republican party are standing against it, trying to uphold the principle of that party, too many others are transforming that party into something else. they seem no longer to want to be the party, a party of lincoln, eisenhower, reagan, the bushes. whatever my other disagreements are with republicans who support the rule of law and not the rule of a single man, i will always seek to work together with them, to find shared solutions where it's possible because if we have a shared belief in democracy then anything is possible. anything. so at this moment we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but in the shadow of lies? we cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. the way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it. the big lie being told by the former president and many republicans who fear his wrath is that the insurrection in this country actually took place on election day, november 3rd, 2020. think about that. is that what you thought? is that what you thought when you voted that day? taking part in an insurrection, is that what you thought you were doing? or did you think you were carrying out your highest duty as a citizen and voting? former presidential supporters are trying to rewrite history. they want you to see election day as the day of insurrection and the riot that took place here on january 6th as a true expression of the will of the people. can you think of a more twisted way to look at this country, to look at america? i cannot. here is the truth, the election of 2020 was the greatest demonstration of dem straes in the history of this country. more of you voted in that election than have ever voted in all of american history. over 150 million americans went to the polls and voted that day. in a pandemic. some at great risk to their lives. they should be applauded, not attacked. right now in state after state new laws are being written not to protect the vote, but to deny it. not only to suppress the vote, but to subvert it. not to strengthen or protect our democracy, but because the former president lost, instead of looking