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President Joe Biden blasted his predecessor for failing to intervene in last year’s deadly mob attack on the Capitol, saying on Monday (July 25) that “Donald Trump lacked the fortitude to act” as hours of “mediaeval horror” unfolded.
“Every day, we rely on law enforcement to save lives.” Then, on January 6, we counted on law enforcement to safeguard our democracy,” Biden stated in a prerecorded speech to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ annual convention in Orlando, Florida.
Biden, who remains in the White House’s family quarters after testing positive for COVID-19 last week, has already blamed Trump for inciting the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, with a “web of lies” about the 2020 presidential election being plagued by significant voter fraud that never occurred.
But his remarks at the conference were the strongest link Biden has made between Trump and the insurgency since a House committee investigating the Capitol attack began holding hearings in June as part of its work to get to the bottom of everything that happened.
“You saw what happened. The Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police, and other law enforcement agencies were attacked and assaulted right in front of our eyes. “I was sprayed, trampled on, and brutalised,” recalled Biden, whose voice is still hoarse and deeper than usual as he recovers from the symptoms of the coronavirus.
“Lives were lost. And for three hours, the defeated former President of the United States sat in the comfort of the private dining room next to the Oval Office, watching it all unfold.”
He went on to say that, while Trump was “In doing so, heroic law enforcement agents are subjected to mediaeval hell for three hours.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump administration White House employee, testified before a House committee on January 6 about Trump’s rage as he sat in his dining room and watched TV while his efforts to overturn the election broke apart.
Biden did not expressly reference the committee’s work during his taped address, as he has previously ignored the subject. He stated after the first hearing that the work was about permitting “no one to place a knife at the throat of our democracy,” but he also stated that he hadn’t had time to view the first instalment.
The committee held its final summer hearing last week, focusing on Trump’s failure to help disperse attackers overrunning the Capitol, despite top officials and members of his family pleading with him to call a halt to the violence.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre previously stated that, while Biden was able to listen in sometimes to the committee’s work, he wasn’t able to focus much on the proceedings as he focused on his job as president. It’s unclear whether Biden has had more time to watch while recovering from COVID-19.
Trump will be in Washington on Tuesday to speak at the America First Agenda Summit, his first visit to the nation’s capital since leaving office. On Monday, Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the address, adding, “I’m not sure what he’s coming to talk about.”
During the insurgency, law enforcement officials were “dripping in blood, surrounded by horror, face-to-face with a mad mob that believed the defeated president’s lies,” according to Biden’s pre-recorded remarks.
“That day, the cops were heroes.” “Donald Trump lacked the guts to act,” stated the president.
“The brave ladies and men in blue across this country should never forget that.” You can’t be pro-insurgency and pro-police. You cannot be pro-insurgency and pro-democracy at the same time. You can’t be pro-insurgency and pro-America.”
