President-elect Joe Biden.Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty
“Yesterday, in my view was one of thedarkest days in the history of our nation— an unprecedented assault on our democracy,” he said on Thursday, before announcing several nominees to lead his administration’s Department of Justice.
“But what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, it was not disorder, it was not protest. It was chaos. They weren’t protestors. Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple,” he added. “And I wish we could say we couldn’t see it coming. But that isn’t true. We could see it coming.”
As he continued to speak, Biden placed the blame on Trump and the incendiary behavior the president has displayed throughout his time in office.
“For the past four years, we’ve had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done. He has unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of democracy from the outset, and yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack,” the former vice president said, going on to reference Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
Biden also addressed the official police response to the riots, noting thestark contrast to the aggressive tactics— such asflash grenades and tear gas— law enforcement used duringprotests against racial injustice last year.
“What we saw yesterday in plain view was another violation of a fundamental tenet of this nation. Not only did we see the failure to protect one of the three branches of our government, we also saw a clear failure to carry out equal justice,” he said.
President-elect Joe Biden.Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Amid the chaos at the U.S. Capitol, Biden previouslycalled on Trumpto “step up” and tell his supporters to end the violence.
Trump went on to release a video statement telling the rioters to go home, while continuing torepeat his unfounded claimsabout the 2020 election. The video was soon removed or restricted from social media due to “risk of violence, and Facebook has subsequently announced that Trump isbanned “indefinitely”from its platforms.
After a lengthy delay, Congress reconvened andratified the electoral vote overnight, only after which did Trump agree to an“orderly” transition of power.
source: people.com
