WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Monday criticized former President Donald Trump for lacking the “courage to act” during the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol.
“For three hours, the defeated former president of the United States watched it all unfold while sitting in the comfort of the private dining room off the Oval Office,” Biden said in a recorded White House address to the National Organization of Black Business Executives. law enforcement.
“While doing that, the brave law enforcement officers were subjected to medieval hell for three hours,” Biden said.
Biden’s comments come in the wake of Thursday House Committee hearing investigating the attack, which focused on Trump’s lack of intervention while the Capitol riot was taking place.
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the committee that Trump did not call in any officials from the Department of Defense, the FBI or the National Guard to assist Capitol Police while the violence was taking place.
Witnesses also said that Trump was watching Fox News for two and a half hours during the escalation of unrest.
Trump does not act: This time, it was not what he did. It was the one thing he wouldn’t do when a mob attacked the Capitol.
This is not the first time that Biden has publicly spoke out against the January 6 attack.
“We must ensure that such an attack never, ever happens again,” Biden said on the first anniversary of the riots.
Trump is in Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office following the Jan. 6 riots. He will lead the America First Agenda Summit, a two-day meeting of the America First Policy Institute led by Trump supporters and former administration officials.
The latest on hearings: Pressure campaigns, predictable violence: what we learned from the eight hearings on January 6
Collaboration: David Jackson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden criticizes Trump on January 6, ‘he lacked courage to act’