The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, and Trump supporters of attacking American democracy. He spoke Thursday at an event to mark the anniversary of the January 6, 2021, deadly assault on the US Capitol.
Biden warned that although the attackers were unsuccessful, the insurrection remains a serious threat to the US system of government.
“For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, but rather tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power when a violent mob violated the Capitol,” Biden said, adding that “on this commemoration day, we you must ensure that such an attack never, ever happens again. “
“We saw it with our own eyes; Rioters threatened these corridors, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House, literally erecting gallows to hang the Vice President of the United States of America, ”said Mr. Biden. he said at Statuary Hall, a place rioters marched through a year ago.
But what we didn’t see, Biden said, “… is a former president, who had just summoned the mob to attack, sitting in the private dining room of the White House Oval Office, watching everything on television and doing nothing. “. for hours while the police were raided, lives in danger and the nation’s capital under siege. “
“This was not a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection. They did not seek to defend the will of the people. They sought to deny the will of the people, “he added.
President Biden also accused Trump of spreading a “web of lies” about the latest US elections and US democracy.
“He has done it because he values power over principle because he sees that his own interest is more important than the interest of his country,” Biden said of his predecessor. “His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.”
“He cannot accept that he lost, even though that is what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battlefield state have said he lost,” he added.
The 46th US president, who was visibly angry in his speech, said that Trump has done what no president in the history of the United States has ever done: “He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people.” .
“Supporters of the former president are trying to rewrite history. They want you to see Election Day as the day of the insurrection and the riots that took place here on January 6 as a true expression of the will of the people. Can you think of a more twisted way of looking at this country, of looking at America? I can not.”
We are in a battle for the soul of America, Biden said. “I did not seek this fight, brought to this Capitol a year from now. But I won’t flinch either. I will stand in this gap, I will defend this nation. I will not allow anyone to put a dagger to the neck of this democracy. “
Trump criticizes Biden’s speech
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has lashed out at President Biden about his speech at the January 6 commemorations.
“He used my name today to try to further divide America,” Trump said of Biden in a statement. “This political theater is just a distraction.”
The former president accused his successor of “destroying our nation” with “crazy” border policies, “corrupt elections” and “devastating school closings.”
The capitol riot
Hundreds of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the electoral victory of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Four people died on the day of the violence and a Capitol police officer who had been attacked by protesters He died the next day, January 8.
The chaos led to Trump’s second impeachment trial. More than 500 people have been arrested for his role in the violence.
About 140 officers from both the Capitol Police and the DC department were injured in the melee.
During a emotional testimony last year, Four police officers told a special House committee that they were beaten, threatened, taunted with racial slurs and thought they might be killed while fighting to defend the Capitol against the mob.
In August, the U.S. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced that four police officers who responded to the January 6 riot in the United States Capitol they have committed suicide.