Donald Trump cancels January 6 Capitol riot anniversary press conference

US President Joe Biden to speak ‘truth’ on January 6 anniversary as Donald Trump cancels event in Florida

Trump accused news media and House committee investigating the deadly attack of ‘total bias and dishonesty’

Reading Time:2 minutes

After praise from former president Donald Trump to ‘show force’, a mob ransacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. File photo: AP

Published: 9:37am, 5 Jan 2022

Donald Trump abruptly gave up his plan to steal the limelight on the anniversary of the January assault against Congress, leaving President Joe Biden to address a divided nation.

The former US president said in a statement on Tuesday evening that he would instead be discussing his grievances at a rally he has planned in Arizona later this month.

Trump had been expected to use the press conference to rail against the congressional committee investigating the events of January 6, when a mob of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power, and to repeat his lies about the 2020 election.

Trump continues to falsely insist that the election was “stolen” and that the “real” insurrection was on November 3, 2020, the day Democrat Biden won a 306-232 Electoral College victory.

Pro-Trump protesters storming into the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. File photo: Reuters

Federal and state election officials, Trump’s own attorney general and numerous judges – including some he appointed – have all said repeatedly that the election was fair and that there is no credible evidence of serious fraud.

“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am cancelling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona,” Trump wrote.