Has Joe Biden decided to attack Donald Trump more head-on? The US president, in his speech Thursday to commemorate the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, will denounce the “special responsibility” of his predecessor in this “chaos”, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Joe Biden “sees January 6 as the tragic crowning achievement of what four years of Trump’s presidency has done to this country,” said Jen Psaki. The spokeswoman for the US executive told reporters to expect “President Biden to expose the scope of what happened on Capitol Hill and President Trump’s particular responsibility in the chaos.”
The Democratic president is due to speak on Capitol Hill itself, where thousands of his rival’s supporters have tried to prevent his election from being certified by the US Congress.
He will “forcefully denounce the lie propagated by the former president”, who claims against all evidence to have won the ballot, said Jen Psaki. It is a clear hardening of tone on the part of the White House which usually is loath to even name Donald Trump.
The Justice Department toughens its tone
Accused of not being firm enough in this case, the Minister of Justice Merrick Garland promised it on Wednesday: “All the assailants of January 6 will have to be accountable to justice, whatever their status – qu ‘they were present that day or are criminally responsible for the attack on our democracy. “
He asked for time to “follow the facts wherever they lead”. At this point, more than 700 supporters of Donald Trump have been indicted, 160 have pleaded guilty, and 70 have been sentenced after a trial. But federal prosecutors must now get down to business, with trials coming up for members of far-right groups and militias, with a question: Was the assault planned?
For its part, the parliamentary commission of inquiry is seeking to determine whether Donald Trump has sought to interrupt the certification of the presidential results. If so, elected officials could recommend criminal charges against the former president. It would then be up to the Department of Justice to decide on a possible indictment.