President Biden is planning to deliver a speech on the House Jan. 6 committee’s findings once the panel completes its probe, according to reports.
The speech will focus on what Mr. Biden believes is at stake should former President Donald Trump return to the White House, according to NBC, citing a senior administration official and a Democrat familiar with the planning.
The White House did not confirm the president’s plans to address the committee’s findings and has previously noted the panel’s independence.
The committee began unveiling its findings in a series of public hearings this month after its nearly yearlong investigation, which continues.
Lawmakers on the panel have teased future hearings before the committee releases its final report, expected in the fall.
The expected timing of the committee’s report and potential speech from the president coincides with this year’s upcoming midterm elections in which Democrats are expected to face a tough sell to voters facing skyrocketing inflation, high gas prices and rising crime rates.
Republicans argue the problems the country faces are a direct result of Democrat policies.
Mr. Trump’s influence in House and Senate races nationwide is unmistakable. The former president has deployed the full force of his political and financial capital to ensure his picks win in Republican primary races across the country.
Mr. Biden has looked to counter Republican challengers by rallying Democrat voters to flood the polls and give Congress the needed votes to “restore the protections” from the now-defunct Roe v. Wade.
He laments the Supreme Court ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe decision as an ideological remnant of his Republican predecessor.
But Democrats are also banking on voters being swayed by the committee’s findings, and early indications from the committee’s series of public hearings suggest that the Capitol riot has at least maintained traction with Americans.
A poll published Thursday by The Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago showed that 48% of American voters say Mr. Trump should be criminally charged for the riot at the U.S. Capitol, compared to 31% who said he should not and 20% who had no opinion.
Fifty-nine percent said Mr. Trump deserves “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of blame for the riot.
The poll was conducted June 23-27 among 1,053 voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
President Biden has previously leveraged the Capitol riot as a rallying cry for his party.
On the anniversary of the attack, Mr. Biden spoke from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol offering a searing criticism of Mr. Trump, referring to him as “a defeated former president” and tying him to an extremist movement that he says threatens America’s democracy.
“Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America — at American democracy,” he said.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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