Donald Trump largely avoided speaking of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol during a campaign event on Saturday, which took place on the attack's third anniversary, reflecting the degree to which Republican voters have absolved him of responsibility for that day's events.
Speaking to a crowd of hundreds of supporters in the town of Newton, Iowa, the former president brought up Jan. 6 only once. He repeated previous claims that Democratic President Joe Biden, who he is likely to face in a general election rematch in November, is the true threat to democracy.
"You know this guy (Biden) goes around and says I'm a threat to democracy," Trump said. "No, he's a threat because he's incompetent. He's a threat to democracy."
"Nobody thought J.6. was even a possibility," Trump said later, without elaborating.
Trump also attacked former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who has been sharply critical of Trump since the Jan. 6 attack, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as legislators were certifying Biden's 2020 election victory.
Biden has repeatedly called Trump a threat to democracy on the trail, and that messaging has emerged as an central theme of his campaign so far. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of Jan. 6 at length during an event in South Carolina on Saturday.
At recent campaign events in Iowa, Trump's supporters — and even supporters of other Republican presidential hopefuls — have downplayed the significance of Jan. 6, and many have embraced conspiracy theories regarding the events of that day.
Trump himself has suggested during previous campaign stops that undercover FBI agents played a significant role instigating the attack, an account not supported by official investigations.
More than 1,200 people have been charged with taking part in the riot, and more than 900 have either pleaded guilty or been convicted following a trial.
"It wasn't really an insurrection," said Hale Wilson, a Trump supporter from Des Moines who was at the Newton event. "There were bad actors involved that got the crowd going."
Trump is in Iowa to curry support ahead of the state's Republican caucus on Jan. 15, which is the first contest of the Republican presidential nominating contest. He currently leads all competitors by more than 30 percentage points in the state, according to most polls.
Harris' speech came after Biden offered scathing criticism of Trump's actions that day in a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
The vice president delivered the keynote address at the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society annual retreat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
"Three years ago today, on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob violently attacked the United States Capitol they used brutal force and fear to try to overturn the results of a free and fair election. They tried to overrule the votes of millions of Americans," Harris said.
"On that day, we saw violence, chaos, and lawlessness, but some so-called leaders still tried to mislead and gaslight by saying it was a peaceful protest," she said.
Biden credits South Carolina with catapulting him to the White House in 2020, and the state was moved to the top spot in the party's nominating calendar, ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire.
The AME, or African Methodist Episcopal church, formed in response to racial discrimination in an American Methodist church in the late 1700s, has thousands of congregations worldwide and several million members. Biden will speak at the Mother Emanuel AME in South Carolina on Monday, where nine members were killed by a white supremacist in 2015.
Although Biden is not facing serious competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, polls show he has lost some support from Black voters nationwide. A strong primary turnout in a state where the majority of Democratic voters are Black would calm fears about his electability among the party.
Before an audience of hundreds of mostly Black women church leaders, Harris said the audience’s support had lifted Biden to the White House and led to the expansion of postpartum care and the replacement of lead pipes in largely Black communities. She said some Republicans intended to roll back their reproductive healthcare and voting rights.
"Let us not throw up our hands. It is time to roll up our sleeves. We were born for a time such as this and we love our country," Harris said.
The FBI executed three federal arrest warrants for three Jan. 6 fugitives early on Saturday at a ranch in Groveland, Florida, it said. Taken into custody were Jonathan Daniel Pollock, Olivia Michele Pollock, and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson, it said. They are scheduled to appear in federal court in Ocala, Florida, on Jan. 8.
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