Biden to mark Jan. 6 anniversary by calling Trump a threat to democracy and freedom

President Joe Biden holds his first campaign event of 2024 Friday near Valley Forge, where he'll say democracy is under threat, on the eve of the anniversary of Jan. 6.

In his first major campaign event of 2024, President Joe Biden on Friday, the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, will deliver a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to argue democracy and fundamental freedoms are under threat if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The Biden campaign has billed the location in the election battleground state as being a "stone's throw" away where then-Gen. George Washington, leading the Continental Army, "transformed a disorganized alliance of colonial militias into a cohesive coalition united in their fight for our democracy" nearly 250 years ago.

He'll make the afternoon remarks at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, which is actually about 15 miles from the Revolutionary War site that's considered the birthplace of the American army.

"This Saturday will mark the three-year anniversary of when, with encouragement from Donald Trump, a violent mob breached our nation's Capitol," Biden campaign manager Julie-Chavez Rodriguez told reporters in a call previewing the speech. "It was the first time in our nation's history that a president tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power."

"Let's all take a moment to sit with the gravity and significance of the moment we're all living through," Biden communications director Michael Tyler added later. "The leading candidate of a major party in the United States is running for president so that he can systematically dismantle and destroy our democracy."