Biden to give prime-time speech on threats to democracy in final midterms push

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to deliver remarks Wednesday night on the importance of protecting democracy and the threat posed by election deniers as part of his final pitch to voters heading into midterms next week.

In the remarks, Biden is expected to echo past warnings he has made about the threat posed by those who spread false information about the validity of the 2020 election, according to a statement from the Democratic National Committee. Biden has repeatedly accused Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump of promoting “extremism.”

“President Biden has been speaking about democracy for the entire time he has been in office and before then, and I think you can expect to hear from him this evening, similar to what he’s been saying over the course of the last several months, that there is a lot at stake, including democracy and that everyone has a role in that,” said White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon during an event hosted by Axios.

Nov. 2, 202205:12

The remarks will take place at 7 p.m. from Union Station in Washington — a location chosen for its close proximity to the U.S. Capitol, White House senior advisor Anita Dunn said during the Axios event.

“He’ll be making the speech from Capitol Hill, and why will he be making the speech on Capitol Hill? Because on Jan. 6 we saw violence geared toward subverting the democratic processes so it’s an appropriate place to make these remarks tonight,” Dunn said.

Sources familiar with the matter told NBC News that while the topic has been on the president’s mind for quite some time, a number of developments have added to the urgency, including the growing suggestion by some Republican officials they may not accept the election results and the fact that some Republicans have refused to denounce or have outright mocked last Friday’s attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi.

In his remarks, Biden will also emphasize that it may take several days for all the votes to be counted in some key swing states, said O’Malley Dillon. In 2020, election deniers used that lagging in time needed to hand count absentee ballots to make false accusations against election officials.