Rioters 'held a dagger at America's throat': US Prez recalls Capitol attack on anniversary

On the first anniversary of the dreadful US Capitol Hill attack, US President Joe Biden described the people who stormed the federal building on January 6 last year as dangerous threats to the American democracy. According to Biden, the supporters of former US President Donald Trump who entered the US Capitol when the Congress convened to certify Joe Biden’s election victory “held a dagger at the throat of America”. In his speech recalling the day the US' “democracy was attacked”, Biden also mounted an attack on Trump but did not mention the name of his predecessor even once. 

Biden said, “Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America…at American democracy.” 

The US President added that those men and women who entered one of the most secure buildings in the United States “didn't come here out of patriotism or principle."

“They came here in rage. Not in service of America, but rather in service of one man,” Biden said.  Referring to Trump, Biden added, “Those who incited the mob, the real plotters who were desperate to deny the certification of this election, defy the will of the voters.” 

Earlier in his speech, Biden said that US citizens cannot love their nation only when it's convenient. He said, “You can't love your country only when you win. You can't obey the law only when it is convenient. You can't be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.”

Biden lashes out at Trump for spreading ‘web of lies’

In his lengthy attack on Trump, Biden took a dig at the "lies" spread by the former President and his lack of swift action to prevent insurrection as it unfolded last year on January 6. Biden said, "Here's the truth: A former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle. Because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest, and America's interest."

"And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution. He can't accept he lost even though that's what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said he lost," he added.

(Image: AP)