Jan. 6 Riot Left ‘Dagger at Throat of Democracy’: Biden

President Joe Biden speaks at U.S. Capitol today. via Twitter

An angry President Joe Biden said his predecessor was responsible for the mob attack on  the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6 that left a “dagger at the throat of democracy.”

Biden’s blistering attack on former President Donald Donald Trump amounted to a sharp break in a long-standing American tradition of avoiding personal attacks on past leaders.

But without mentioning his name, Biden said Trump’s support for the crowd that attacked the Capitol and his continued efforts to overturn the results of the November 2020 election has opened a “battle for the soul of America.”

Noting there was “zero proof” of election fraud,  Biden effectively accused Trump of being a false patriot.

“You can’t love your country only when you win,” he said Wednesday, adding that the attacking on the capital was “not in service to America, but in service to one man.”

“We’re at an inflection point,” he said Thursday. “The former president and the mob could not be further from American values.”

Biden’s comments followed a similarly hardline speech by Attorney General Merrick Garland who said he would continue his investigation of the facts behind the Capitol attack “wherever they lead.”

Significantly he said that the Department of Justice probe would prosecute those found to be responsible for the riot investigation “whether they were at the Capitol or committed other crimes any in relation to the event and its purpose.”

So far, there is no indication that Trump himself may be targeted by investigators, even though Biden clearly placed him at the center of the Jan. 6 events.

In response to Biden’s comments, Trump issued a written statement, saying that Biden “…used my name today to try to further divide America,” and that “this political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed.”

To date, more than 725 defendants in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia have been arrested and charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack.

Garland also used the opportunity to warn against the rise in violence and threats of violence against public officials, which he said was becoming dangerously normalized.

In 2021, the DOJ charged more defendants in criminal threat cases targeting election workers, flight crews, school personnel, journalists, members of Congress, and federal agents, prosecutors, and judges, than in any year in at least the last five, he said.

Garland said the situation was only exacerbated by the weakening of the Voting Rights Act in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in the Shelby County case, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in legislative enactments that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect representatives of their own choosing.

Garland promised that the DOJ would continue to protect voting rights with the enforcement powers they have and that “the Justice Department will never stop working to defend the democracy to which all Americans are entitled.”

Garland’s complete statement can be downloaded here.