Biden lashes out at Trump, Republican enablers on Jan 6 anniversary

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden used unusually terse language to lash out at his predecessor and his partisan enablers on Thursday as he marked the one-year anniversary of former President Donald Trump's supporters storming the Capitol.

Biden remembered the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection as key moment in which American "democracy held" and Trump and his supporters "failed" to undo the nation's will.

“One year ago today in this sacred place democracy was attacked, simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault, our constitution faced the gravest of threats," Biden said from the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol.

"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 breached the Capitol. But they failed. They failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again," he added.

The president took particular aim at those Republicans who have continued to downplay the severity of the attack, saying "How dare anyone, anyone diminish, belittle or deny the hell they were put through."

"We saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House, literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the United States of America," he said.