US President Joe Biden on Thursday promised in a solemn speech to Congress not to "let anyone put the knife at the throat of American democracy", a year after the violent assault on Capitol Hill by supporters of Donald Trump.
Both in the United States and abroad, "we are engaged in a struggle between democracy and autocracy," he said in an offensive speech.
"I did not seek this fight" but "I will not slip away," he continued.
The 79-year-old Democrat spoke at 9 a.m. this Thursday, East Coast Time (3 p.m. French time) in the Capitol's "Hall of Statues", along with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Those leading the attack on Capitol Hill, where the US Congress is based, "were not a group of tourists, it was an armed insurgency," he said.
The buffalo-horned protester and more than 725 supporters of the ex-president who entered Congress headquarters have already been arrested in connection with the massive investigation launched by the FBI.
Since July, it has been coupled with a parliamentary committee which seeks to establish the precise role of Donald Trump and his entourage in this assault.
For Joe Biden, this responsibility is clear.
To read also "The atmosphere was hysterical": a year ago, pro-Trump waved America by invading the Capitol
"For the first time in history, a president not only lost an election, he tried to prevent a peaceful transfer of power," assured the Democratic president in a direct allusion to Donald Trump, that he never names or calls him "the former president".
A formulation specific to enrage the Republican billionaire.
By exposing alleged fraud, "the former President of the United States created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election, he did so because he prefers power to principle," said Joe Biden , stressing that the former Republican president had "built his lie for months" before the poll. A year after the events which shook American democracy, and while the wounds have not been healed, the American president has therefore decided to publicly mention the "special responsibility" of Donald Trump in this outburst of violence, like the Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, announced on Wednesday.
This speech marks a break, as if Joe Biden had chosen to impart a more combative tone to his mandate, which he had first wanted to place under the sign of reconciliation, by treating Donald Trump and his most bitter supporters by contempt.
Trump away from Washington
Donald Trump's reply was not long in coming: the billionaire estimated that the speech of his successor, whose confidence rating is very low, was "political theater" intended to divert attention from his "failures." "The former Republican president continues to claim, without proof, that he is the real winner of the election, that his victory was" stolen "from him and that the result of the November 2020 poll is" the crime of the century " . According to a recent poll (Ipsos for Reuters), 55% of Republican voters still believe in fraud, a charge dismissed by dozens of courts, state electoral services and members of Trump's own administration.
If he canceled his speech scheduled for Thursday, postponing it to January 15 during a meeting in Arizona, it is to avoid a provocation that could embarrass the tenors of his political camp a little more.
The leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, had estimated in February 2021 that the former president was "morally responsible" for the assault of January 6.
Even the declared opponents of Donald Trump in the Republican ranks remain few in number.
"The American spirit is being tested," said Vice President Kamal Harris, who spoke after Joe Biden.
"We must unite to defend our democracy," she added.
Four protesters lost their lives on January 6, 2021, a police officer died the day after his injuries and four officers have since committed suicide.
Hundreds of people were injured.
And since then, the Capitol, emblem of the American nation, has been transformed into an entrenched camp.
VIDEO.
"We had to undergo a medieval battle": a police officer testifies on the attack on the Capitol
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