Joe Biden's administration faced fresh criticism this week over the president's decision not to visit Ground Zero in commemoration of September 11.
President Joe Biden was in Alaska rather than New York or any other memorial sites on Monday as the U.S. remembered the thousands of lives lost in 2001.
Biden was not the only White House member facing scrutiny either as one conservative commentator told his YouTube viewers that Vice President Kamala Harris had tried to equate the events of 9/11 with those of the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots.
The Claim
During a YouTube video, posted on September 11, 2023, and viewed more than 130,000 times since, conservative commentator Benny Johnson claimed that Kamala Harris had compared the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Johnson, who was interviewing Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City on the day of 9/11 and former Donald Trump attorney, said: "In fact, Kamala Harris, just moments ago, was saying that January 6 is just like September 11, this is a day that will live in infamy, she said."
The Facts
Harris has previously made a comparison between the two events.
She made the comment on January 6, 2022, as part of a speech addressing the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Capitol riots.
Harris began her speech by mentioning the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, then the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021, saying each was marked in the collective memory of the U.S. as days "when our democracy came under assault."
"Certain dates echo throughout history including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them," Harris said.
"Where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars but a place in our collective memory.
"December 7, 1941. September 11, 2001, and January 6, 2021."
Johnson had been speaking to Giuliani about Harris' appearance at Ground Zero in New York on Monday, an event Giuliani also attended. Harris was pictured at the ceremony alongside New York Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
However, Harris' comments were arguably not "just moments ago," as Johnson stated.
The Ruling
True.
Kamala Harris did make a comparison between September 11 and January 6. During a speech marking the first anniversary of the U.S. Capitol riots, Harris said January 6, like September 11, would go down in the collective memory of the U.S.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
