President Joe Biden will emphasize in a speech at Valley Forge that democracy is still a “sacred cause.”

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will kick off his 2024 pitch to voters Friday, the day before the anniversary of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by asking whether democracy is still a “sacred law” ' is. cause' worth sacrificing for.

Biden believes the upcoming election will largely be about that question, according to a Biden adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the Democratic president's expected comments. Whether or not the nation agrees could become a central question in the 2024 race.

The president will speak from near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago. And he will tell how Washington spoke to his military about democracy as a “sacred cause.”

The Jan. 6 attack was a vivid reminder of how democracy can be tested, Biden is expected to say, according to the adviser.

Biden will also detail then-President Donald Trump's role in the attack, when a mob of Republican supporters overran the Capitol. More than a hundred police officers were bloodied, beaten and attacked by the rioters who overwhelmed authorities to break into the building in an attempt to stop the certification of votes for Biden, who won the 2020 election.

At least nine people who were in the Capitol that day died during or after the riot, including several officers who died by suicide, a woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber, and three other Trump supporters. who authorities said suffered medical emergencies.

Although the chaos of January 6 fell on members of both political parties, its memory is now remembered in a largely polarized manner, like other aspects of political life in a divided country.

Biden will characterize his predecessor as a serious threat to the country's founding principles, arguing that Trump – who built an early lead in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries – will try to undermine American democracy if he wins a second term .

Trump, who faces 91 criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden and three other felony charges, says Biden and top Democrats themselves are trying to undermine democracy by using the legal system to undermine his campaign. to thwart its main rival.

According to the Pew Research Center, in the days following the attack, 52% of American adults said Trump bore a great deal of responsibility for January 6. By early 2022, that had dropped to 43%. The number of Americans who say Trump is not responsible increased from 24% in 2021 to 32% in 2022.

A Washington Post and University of Maryland poll released this week found that about seven in 10 Republicans say the attack is being overplayed. Only 18% of Republican supporters say the protesters who entered the Capitol were “mainly violent,” down from 26% in 2021, while 77% of Democrats and 54% of independents say the protesters were mostly violent, essentially unchanged compared to 2021.

On the first anniversary, Biden stood in Statuary Hall, a historic site where the House of Representatives met before the Civil War. On January 6, rioters filled the area, some looking for lawmakers who had taken cover.

“They were not out to uphold the will of the people,” Biden said of the rioters. “They tried to deny the will of the people.”

On the second anniversary, Biden presented the nation's second-highest civilian award to 12 people involved in defending the Capitol during the attack.

Friday's speech will involve supporters and young people motivated by the attack to get involved in politics, campaign advisers said.

Biden is expected to note that Washington was a president who willingly gave up his power for the good of the country.