Biden is set to deliver a speech on “access to our democracy” at the Atlanta church, where MLK was preaching, as the crisis over secret files found at his home threatens to overshadow his presidency after the interim
- President Biden will be the first sitting commander in chief to speak there
- He was invited to the Ebenezer Baptist Church by Democratic Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, who has been a pastor there for 17 years
- Biden previously appeared in Georgia to speak on voting rights in January 2022
President Joe Biden is the first sitting commander in chief to speak at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, America’s most famous black church
President Joe Biden will be the first sitting commander in chief Sunday morning at the church in Atlanta, Georgia, which was once Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivers a speech.
Biden will reflect on the legacy of the murdered civil rights leader and speak about voting rights on King’s 93rd birthday.
“The President will speak at church on a number of topics, including the importance of our access to our democracy,” said Senior White House Advisor Keisha Lance Bottoms — the former Atlanta Mayor. before his trip.
It comes amid a growing crisis for his presidency over multiple disclosures of classified documents found at his home in Delaware and at an old office of his in Washington, DC.
The White House on Saturday admitted five classified pages were found in Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, after announcing the existence of a page earlier this week.
Ten were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank where Biden used a private office from 2017 until his presidential bid in 2020.
Biden has not been to Georgia since January of last year after avoiding the peach state during its tense midterm election.
He and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to speak at the Ebenezer Baptist Church at 11:00 am Eastern Time.
King was co-pastor of the church from 1960 to 1968 when he was murdered by fugitive James Earl Ray.
Biden’s appearance comes at the invitation of Democratic Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, who became senior pastor of the Baptist church in 2005.
A little over a month ago, Warnock secured his first full term in the US Senate, narrowly beating Donald Trump-backed Republican soccer star Herschel Walker in a runoff earlier in December.
Martin Luther King Jr. served as co-pastor of the church from 1960 until his assassination in 1968
On his 93rd birthday, the President is reflecting on the legacy of the murdered civil rights icon
Passers-by walk near the 20-foot-tall bronze sculpture “The Embrace,” a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, at Boston Common, Tuesday, January 10, 2023, in Boston
The president, whose job-approval rating hovers in the low 40s and at times even dips into the high 30s, gave the Peach State a wide berth while appearing on battlefields like Wisconsin and Colorado.
Biden’s last appearance in Georgia was on January 11, 2022.
The President had delivered a fiery speech about the need to pass a voting rights bill in Congress.
He attacked Senate Republicans, urging the chamber to abolish the filibuster that would have allowed Democrats to pass legislation with just their simple majority.
But the push to end the filibuster ultimately foundered on opposition from conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
Consequently, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act never made it onto Biden’s desk.
His speech at the time sparked outrage from Republican opponents of the Voting Rights Act after the President compared those critics to notorious racists George Wallace and Jefferson Davis.