(Washington) Joe Biden on Monday criticized the inaction of his predecessor Donald Trump during the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which he called “hell worthy of the Middle Ages”.
Posted at 5:22 p.m.
Updated at 5:48 p.m.
“For three hours, the beaten former president of the United States watched the events unfold, seated in the comfort of his private dining room, near the Oval office”, launched the Democratic president on the sidelines of a conference of an organization of African-American police chiefs.
“While he was doing this, brave policemen lived through a hell worthy of the Middle Ages […]being covered in blood, surrounded by carnage, facing a raging crowd who believed the lies of the defeated president,” he continued.
“The police were heroic that day. Donald Trump did not have the courage to act”, underlined Joe Biden, noting that one could not “be proinsurgency and propolice”, or “proinsurgency and prodemocracy”.
These criticisms echo the conclusions of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the January 6 attack, which estimated during a public hearing last Thursday that the Republican billionaire had “failed in his duty as commander-in-chief” by not not intervene to stop for three hours the surge of violence of his supporters in Congress.
Joe Biden, criticized by his opponents for the renewed violence in the country, is a few months away from crucial legislative elections, which could see the Republican party take over the House of Representatives currently dominated by Democrats.