This is President Biden’s first campaign speech of the year, where he narrowed in on GOP frontrunner, former president Donald Trump, warning what could happen if he is re-elected.

Biden took direct aim at the former president for his role in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“He told a crowd to fight like hell and all hell was unleashed,” he said.

The president says what should have been a peaceful transition of power turned into an unprecedented attack on our democracy.

“Trump’s mob wasn’t peaceful protests. It was a violent assault,” he added.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to continue prosecuting the people accused of storming the Capitol.

“On that day, officers were punched, tackled, and tased as they defended the Capitol and those inside,” he said.

In a press conference on Friday, Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin warned Trump could try to overturn the election again if he loses the 2024 race.

“Donald Trump is out there saying he will issue a pardon to the more than 700 people who are convicted,” he said.

But Trump fired back, posting on his social media platform Friday that "Biden is a threat to democracy."

Former President Trump will spend Saturday in Iowa where he is scheduled to hold two separate campaign rallies.

"This department and our state and local partners will not rest until every community in our country is safe from the scourge of violent crime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

While FBI data shows crimes like murder, rape and aggravated assault are down, the outlier remains property crime.  Car theft alone jumped more than 7% in 2022.

During their first press conference of the year Garland and his Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco vowed to enhance their strategy.

"…that means more joint federal state and local to target violent criminals in putting more cops on the beat,” Monaco said. 

"This is not a time to relax on our efforts, we have so much more to do,” Garland said.

They say bipartisan gun legislation signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 is helping local and federal law enforcement track and prevent gun violence.

The Biden administration says enhanced background checks has stopped more than 500 unlawful gun purchases.

Alex Piquero, the former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, says the DOJ’s reporting is promising but it’s not the whole picture. He notes some cities like Washington D.C., and Memphis are reporting increases in homicides.

"There are two stories here, there is a national story but there's also a local story," Piquero said.

For cities seeing positive trends Lindsey McLendon, a criminal justice fellow, says simply being out of a pandemic may be a factor but adds it’s hard to say for sure.

"We should not bet against the American consumer, and you should not bet against the American economy," Clement Jackson, White House economic advisor said.

216,000 jobs were added last month, the latest sign the American labor market remains resilient even in the face of still-high interest rates.

Hotels, restaurants, and other businesses in the hospitality sector added 40,000 jobs in December.

"This is above the kinds of job growth you need to accommodate population growth, so this is a healthy number," he added.

President Joe Biden called 2023 a great year for the American worker.

"I won’t stop fighting for American workers and American families."

While the White House welcomes the news of a positive jobs report, many Americans say they are not feeling the effects.

"We've had energy prices, gas prices that are up close to 40% or more under Biden's administration, " Richard Stern with the Heritage Foundation said.

Stern says he doesn't believe the numbers. "It's a lot of government propaganda. So, if you dig under the hood, what you find is actually about half the jobs or more are directly the result of government spending," he said.

Mark Hamrick with Bankrate says despite the positive economic news there's still some uncertainty ahead.

"Just look at what's going on in the Middle East, not only with a potential disruption in oil supply but also broadly supply chain disruptions given the importance of the Red Sea," he said.

Hamrick says he believes the Federal Reserve will start lowering interest rates this year.

Raskin began, “Donald Trump is out there saying that he will issue a pardon to the more than 700 people who were convicted of participation in the violent insurrection against the Union.”

Rep. Glenn Ivey (D- Md.) recounted watching the events unfold while he was still in private practice, “January 6th was a wakeup call. But today, three years later, we need a true call to action to address this.”

“Those people were not patriots. Those people were not hostages. Those people were not peaceful,” Sgt. Aquilino Gonell characterized the rioters. Gonell was a U.S. Capitol police officer when the attack happened and experienced it first-hand.

President and CEO of People For the American Way advocacy group Svante Myrick stressed the importance of safety in the upcoming 2024 Presidential election. “Our democracy is the key to keeping us all safe,” he charged.

“We're going to have to try to mobilize on a cross-partisan basis everybody who supports constitutional democracy to defend the constitution,” Raskin proposed. President Biden has a speech regarding the third anniversary of the Jan. 6th attacks planned for Friday at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Dunn made the announcement in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter saying, “Today, I’m running for Congress to stop Trump’s MAGA extremism & ensure it never happens again.”

The announcement comes one day before the 3^rd anniversary of the Capitol insurrection.

The former U.S. Capitol police officer says he is running in the Democratic primary to replace Rep. John Sarbanes who is a Democrat that is not seeking reelection. Five state legislators are currently running to fill the spot.

Maryland’s 3^rd Congressional District stretches between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Dunn testified before the Jan 6. Committee in a hearing held at the Capitol in July 2021. During that testimony, he told lawmakers he had to receive private counseling therapy for the emotional trauma he endured on Jan. 6.

In a video released on X on Friday morning, Dunn said he left the police force recently after more than 15 years in service.

“Some of the same people who stood behind us when we protected them went back on the floor of Congress and stood behind Trump. They voted to acquit him,” Dunn said in the video.

President Joe Biden honored Dunn and the other officers who protected the Capitol during the insurrection with a Congressional Gold Medal in December 2022.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As Israel continues its efforts to crush Hamas, the Biden administration is doing everything it can to prevent a region-wide war from breaking out.

Secretary of State Blinken is headed to the Middle East to focus on fears that the Israel-Hamas war could erupt outside of Gaza.

"It is no one's interest… For this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.

This is Blinken’s fourth time traveling to the region in three months.

"He believes we need to make progress on continuing to try to keep the conflict from escalating which is why he's returning to the region," Miller added.

Earlier in the week a senior Hamas leader was killed by an alleged Israeli strike in Lebanon.

With international criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza on the rise and recent explosions in other areas in the Middle East, the State Department says this is a job for the U.S.

"The secretary believes it is the responsibility of America to tackle these challenges," said Miller.

Blinken is arriving a day after a U.S. strike in Baghdad killed the commander of the Iranian-backed Shia militia.

"Obviously we want to prevent the conflict from spreading but part of that means that people need to stop taking strikes against our soldiers," said Miller.

However, there are growing calls for a ceasefire on Capitol Hill.

"There have been too many civilian casualties we have to bring this war to an end," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif).

The State Department says that Blinken is also focused on increasing humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza as well as an effort to curb violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

During a visit to the Texas-Mexico border Wednesday they demanded the final text include changes to the country's asylum laws and renewed construction of the border wall.

"We know what works, it's not rocket science," said newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La).

After border crossings spiked in recent weeks, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) compared the situation at the border to war times and threatened extreme consequences if Republican demands are ignored.

"If that means having to shut down the government…do it" said Van Duyne.

The visit comes as bipartisan negotiations between senators and the White House resumed this week in Washington. The same group tried but failed to strike a deal before the holidays.

"We think those negotiations are headed in the right way," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre.

The Biden administration says it's prepared to boost security to fix a broken immigration system but argue House Republicans are being unreasonable.

"They're talking to themselves,” said Jean Pierre. “We're in regular touch with Senate Republicans who are at the table with us having a real conversation about a bipartisan agreement.

Progressive Democrats are also frustrated over negotiations.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) says immigration groups and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have been left out of talks. As a result, he says he’s concerned the White House could cave to Republican pressure to change asylum laws.

"It'll be more of a border crisis if we get rid of parole and some of the legal ways for people to come into the United States," said Rep Khanna. "I’m not hopeful the way this process is going."

Without buy-in from the House Republicans, a path forward is uncertain and could more broadly jeopardize aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to the Middle East Thursday night to work on preventing the war in Gaza from spreading into a wider conflict.

Blinken will visit Israel and other nations important to maintaining some stability in the region.

This is Secretary Blinken’s fourth trip to the Middle East since war began and the State department says his top priority is de-escalation.

State department spokesman Matthew Miller says the U.S. remains focused on easing tensions in the Middle East.

“Even if it’s tough, sometimes it’s the job of the United States to do that,” said Miller.

Blinken's trip to the region comes just days after a drone strike killed a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon.

“It is no one’s interest--not Israel’s, not the regions, not the world’s--for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza,” said Miller.

Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, but both Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah military group immediately blamed them and vowed a "strong response" if Israel continues to target Lebanon.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says *if* Israel was responsible they still have justification.

“They have a right and a responsibility to go after Hamas leadership. They said that they were going to do that,” he said.

Kirby also says any military action in the region needs to follow international law.

“We continue to talk to our Israeli counterparts about the manner in which they're conducting military operations with the foremost in mind the need to protect innocent civilian life,” he added.

The State Department says while Blinken is in Israel he will discuss getting more immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held an event in Iowa on Wednesday night.

"I'm asking for your support. I'm looking forward to January 15th." DeSantis said. 

Although the former president seems to have a commanding lead, the other Republican candidates are still making their case to voters. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley told people at a New Hampshire rally that her campaign is gaining momentum. 

"President Trump's given me some attention these days. I'm kind of flattered. I'm flattered because I know he sees what we're seeing and that means we're surging and he is getting uncomfortable," Haley said. 

DeSantis is going after both Trump and Haley. 

"Donald Trump is running for his issues. Nikki Haley is running for her donor's issues. I'm running for your issues," DeSantis said. 

This week the Trump team has surrogates in Iowa rallying support. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem told voters there's a reason she wants to help re-elect the former president. 

"President Trump doesn't think he's better than anybody. He knows who he is, he's confident in who he is," Noem said. 

The Iowa caucuses will kick off the sprint through primary season, which will quickly narrow down the Republican field. 

"Don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't play in this primary. It matters," Haley said. 

The candidates say whoever wins the nomination will shape the nation's political future. 

"It's going to be the year where we start to engineer a great comeback for this country," DeSantis said. 

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden will be campaigning in Pennsylvania this weekend. 

The historic landmark was a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

"Where Americans came together to fight for our democracy hundreds of years ago," said Kevin Munoz, a representative of the Biden campaign.

The President plans to talk about what he calls threats to democracy.  Munoz says we can expect Biden to go after what the campaign calls extreme Republican policies. The Biden team says democracy's future is on the ballot in November.

"We want to make sure every American has the freedoms that we've fought for," he said.

Conservatives say President Biden and Democrats are the real threat to democracy.

"I think when he's talking about a threat to democracy, he must be looking in the mirror because if there's any threat to democracy, it's the actions of his administration and his supporters, " said Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation.

Von Spakovsky  points to efforts by some democratic leaders to push former President Trump off the ballot in several states. "That is a real current threat to democracy," he said.

Trump and the RNC are appealing the decisions to remove Trump in Colorado and Maine, but the issue won't be settled until the Supreme Court weighs in.