President Joe Biden , in a speech marking the anniversary of the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot , blasted the shadow of lies that led to a failed insurrection meant to nullify his election victory over Donald Trump , and condemned Republicans who continue to indulge Trumps falsehoods.

Bidens speech, delivered from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, amounted to a count-by-count debunking of Trumps lies about supposed widespread election fraud and what happened on Jan. 6. He noted that election officials across the country, as well as Trumps own attorney general, agreed Biden had won one of the most scrutinized elections in history.

You cant love your country only when you win, Biden said. You cant obey the law only when it is convenient. You cant be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.

Biden did not use the event to push the Democratic Party s sweeping voting rights legislation he plans to travel to Georgia to deliver a speech on the proposed law next week.

At this moment we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be, Biden said in Thursdays remarks. Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?

We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation, he concluded.

Biden returned to one of the signature themes of his presidency, framing the fight over Trumps lies as part of a struggle against authoritarianism around the world.