Speaking from Statuary Hall at the US Capitol on Jan.6 anniversary, President Biden sharply attacked Trump accusing him of inciting rioters to breach the building and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
“Our Constitution faced the gravest of threats,” he said. “Outnumbered in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police, the National Guard, and brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law.”
“For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election; he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob reached the Capitol. But they failed,” Biden said of Trump, to whom he only referred by the former President.
Describing the violence that unfolded for the first time inside the Capitol, Biden again accused Trump of stoking the riots: “He had just rallied the mob to attack” and watched on television, doing “nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives were at risk, the nation’s Capitol under siege.”
