On the one-year anniversary of the attack, Vice President Kamala Harris underscored the severity of the January 6 insurrection by comparing it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said. “Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory: December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001, and January 6th, 2021.”

Harris recalled her own experience on that day, describing how her staff was “converting filing cabinets into barricades” after she and other lawmakers were evacuated from the Senate and House chambers.

She went on to emphasize how the “fragility and strength” of democracy were represented in tandem on the day of the Capitol siege.

“The fragility of our democracy is this: if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand,” Harris said. “It will falter, and it will fail.”

Despite “the violent assault” that interrupted Congress certifying the presidential election, Harris said the strength of American democracy was put on display later that night.