Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver a “closing argument” speech in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday at the site where former President Donald Trump spoke shortly before the Jan. 6 riot, according to a senior campaign official.
Harris will argue it’s time to turn the page on Trump and choose a new way forward, the official said. The address will contrast what a Harris term in office would like compared with another Trump presidency.
The event at the Ellipse, outside the White House, is timed for exactly one week before Election Day.
Sources had told NBC News earlier in the day that Harris’ campaign had been planning an address on the National Mall and had sought a permit for the site.
NBC News obtained the permit application from the National Park Service, which showed the Harris campaign amended the request this week to specifically ask for space on the Ellipse.
That’s where Trump spoke to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, as he challenged the election results, which he falsely claimed had been “rigged” against him. During his address, he told them he would march to the Capitol with them to put pressure on Congress and his own vice president not to certify the results.
“We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated,” Trump told the crowd, urging it repeatedly to “fight.”
“[Y]ou’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong,” he said then.
He has since referred to the date as a “day of love” because of the large crowd he drew to the Ellipse, despite the ensuing violence at the Capitol, in which over 140 police officers were injured.
The Harris campaign official said the campaign plans to contrast Trump’s worst moment in office with what the official called Harris’ optimistic vision for the future.
The rally permit estimates the event will draw 7,750 people. It does not specify who is speaking.
The Ellipse is between the South Lawn of the White House and the National Mall.
Both Harris and Trump have been crisscrossing battleground states in the weeks leading up to Election Day, but this would be one of her largest events in the capital.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
