President Joe Biden claimed on Tuesday that January 6 rioters are worse than slave-owning Confederates in the Civil War because they breached the U.S. Capitol.
During a Tuesday speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Biden mocked Republicans for their attempts to pass voter integrity legislation.
He said:
The assault on free and fair elections is just such a threat — literally. I’ve said it before. We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. It’s not hyperbole — since the Civil War. Confederates, back then, never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did on January 6. I’m not saying this to alarm you. I’m saying this because you should be alarmed.
While it is true Confederate soldiers never breached the U.S. Capitol, the Civil War was the nation’s bloodiest war, with an estimated 750,000 deaths.
The only person who died as a direct result of violence in the January 6 riot was Ashli Babbitt, a United States Air Force veteran. She was unarmed when she was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she climbed through a broken door into the Speaker’s Lobby.
Three other people who died had medical emergencies, and Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of his brainstem as a result of a blood clot in an artery the day after the riot, Breitbart News reported.
Before his “not-hyperbole,” Biden said that “bullies and merchants of fear and peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country,” in reference to the GOP.
He continued:
I never thought in my entire career I would have to say it. But I swore an oath to you and to God to preserve protect and defend the Constitution. That’s an oath that forms a sacred trust to defend America against all threats both foreign and domestic.
Biden’s remarks came after Texas Democrats fled their state on Monday in protest against election integrity measures. The lawmakers were seen “gleefully smiling en route to D.C. with a case of beer, which requires a photo ID to purchase,” Breitbart News reported.