Harris cited "January 6th, 2021," as one of three dates that "echo throughout history" as an occasion on which American democracy came under assault — along with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But...
Harris did not say or imply that the attack on the U.S. Capitol was "worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11."
In January 2022, critics of Vice President Kamala Harris responded with outrage to her speech marking the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Kamala said this was worse than 9-11 and Pearl Harbor," one Twitter user claimed. "Biden and Harris just said Jan 6 is worse than 9-11 and Pearl Harbor!" another wrote. On Facebook, one user wrote "The Vice President of the USA just said Jan. 6, 2021 was worse than Pearl Harbor AND 911." Todd Starnes, the former Fox News host, wrote:
"You'd be surprised at how many Establishment Republicans agree with Kamala -- that Jan. 6 was worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11."
In reality, Harris did not say the attack on the U.S. Capitol was "worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11." Rather, in her remarks on Jan. 6, 2022, the first anniversary of the Capitol attack, Harris cited "January 6th, 2021" as one of three dates that "echo throughout history" as an occasion on which American democracy came under assault — along with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Though some observers might object to Harris's even mentioning the Capitol attack in the same breath as Pearl Harbor and 9/11, it is simply inaccurate to claim that she said, or even implied, that Jan. 6 was, by some unspecified measure, "worse than" those two earlier infamous days. She did not, and we are issuing a rating of "Mostly False."
Harris's remarks came towards the beginning of her speech on the morning of Jan. 6, 2022, at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. Her speech can be watched in full here, and a transcript is available here. The relevant section can be watched further below, and an excerpted transcript is available below:
Fellow Americans, good morning. 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. 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.
On that day, I was not only Vice President-elect, I was also a United States senator, and I was here at the Capitol that morning, at a classified hearing with fellow members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hours later, the gates of the Capitol were breached...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ibrPOnovt0