A day after US President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of posing a continuing threat to American democracy in a speech on the anniversary of the US Capitol attack, the former president has hit back accusing Biden of “political theatre.”
“This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact that Biden has completely and totally failed,” Trump said in a statement shared on his website.
Trump accused the Democrats of attempting to divide America. “The Democrats want to own this day of January 6th so they can stoke fears and divide America. I say, let them have it because America sees through their lies and polarisations,” he said.
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Trump also accused Biden to have made a “laughing stock” of America in front of the world. “Our country no longer has borders, has totally and completely lost control of Covid (record numbers!), is no longer energy Independent, inflation is rampant, our military is in chaos, and our exit, or surrender, from Afghanistan was perhaps the most embarrassing day in the long and distinguished history of the United States — and so much more,” Trump said.
The US Capitol is seen through a steam exhaust on the first anniversary of the attack. (Reuters)
The fiery political speeches by the two leaders came as the United States remembered what is widely being considered as one of the worst security breaches in US history.
On Jan 6, 2021, an armed and angry mob of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill and clashed with police as the Congress convened to validate Biden’s presidential win. Four people died and dozens of police were injured as protestors breached barricades and advanced into the halls of the Capitol building, smashing windows, defacing property and brawling with police.
Biden on Thursday marked the first anniversary of the attack by forcefully blaming Trump and his supporters for holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” with election lies and warned that America’s system of government remains under urgent threat.
“For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol,” Biden said. “You can’t love your country only when you win.”
In an unprecedented move, a group of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington DC on Jan 6, disrupting a Congress meeting convened to validate Biden’s presidential win. (AP/file)
The day of remembrance was marked with moments of silence and anguished accounts from lawmakers recalling the terrifying hours of Jan 6.
Recalling the attack, former President Barack Obama said that it was clear just how “fragile the American experiment in democracy really is” and how the “American democracy is at greater risk today than it was back then.”
