Joe Biden launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Capitol riots saying the US is still in a "battle for the soul of America."
The current President said his predecessor had sown a “web of lies” and had sat idly by as his rabid supporters carried out the assault while attempting to overturn the 2020 election result.
In a withering speech Biden accused Trump, without directly naming him, of watching the riots on TV and "doing nothing" as lives were lost.
"We didn’t see a former President who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in a private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours," Biden said.
This wasn’t a group of tourists, this was an armed insurrection.”
He said they were looking to deny the will of the people.
Standing inside the Capitol that was ransacked a year ago, Biden pulled no punches as he accused the twice-impeached president of seeking to illegally stay in power.
“He can’t accept that he lost,” Biden said. “He refused to accept the results of an election.
“He’s not just a former president. He’s the defeated former president. He lost by seven million of your votes.”
Flanked by his Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden vigorously denounced Trump and his allies who sent a mob to the Capitol.
“You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said.
“Those who instigated and incited held a dagger to the throat of American democracy.”
Biden said even before the first ballot was cast, "the former president was pre-emptively sowing doubt about the election results.”
He said Trump and his supporters decided the only way for them to win is to suppress the vote and subvert U.S. democracy.
At least seven people died in connection with the January 6 insurrection last year, dozens more were injured and hundreds of workers in the Capitol were shaken and left traumatised.
As the US leader addressed his nation he said: “Don’t kid yourself, the pain and scars from that day run deep.”
"We will win," Biden said.
"I know how difficult democracy is and I'm crystal clear about the threats America faces, but I also know that our darkest days can lead to light and hope from the death and destruction."
Biden said he didn't seek the battle brought to the Capitol a year ago, "but I will not shrink from it either."
"I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation, and allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy," he continued.
He said the second big lie told by Trump, who he never referred to by name only as "the former president", and his supporters was the results couldn't be trusted.
Biden said that there's "zero proof" the election results were inaccurate.
He said Trump and his supporters have never been able to explain how they accept the other election results from November 2020 in which their choices for governor and members of Congress were elected.
Biden also trashed Trump and the Republican party for carrying out a yearlong campaign to whitewash the attack and to promote a ‘Big Lie’ the election was stolen from him.
He fiercely defended the police officers who protected the Capitol and lawmakers from both parties who stood together to affirm the election results.
Closing his speech, Biden repeated the theme of his 2020 campaign saying: "We are in a battle for the soul of America."
His address came as Democrats try to move forward on their push for voting rights reforms to protect and expand access to the polls and casting ballots.
Congress is also looking at new laws to prevent future attempts to subvert democracy, with the goal of passing legislation this year.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have opened the door to revising an obscure 1887 law that governs the process of counting electoral votes sent to Congress by states for presidential elections.
Trump had planned to hold a press conference at his Mar-A-Lago resort but cancelled the event.
The businessman vowed to discuss the same “important topics” at a rally in Arizona set for January 15.
Trump responded to Biden’s attack accusing his successor of trying to “deflect the incompetent job he is doing” by focusing America’s attention on the anniversary of the riot.
“Biden is working hard to try and deflect the incompetent job he is doing and has done, on the horrible Afghanistan withdrawal (surrender), the Borders, Covid, Inflation, loss of Energy Independence, and much more,” Trump said in a statement.
“Everything he touches turns to failure. That’s what you get when you have a rigged election.”
