Biden calls Capitol chaos 'one of the darkest days' in US history
Before introducing his Justice Department picks from Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday, Biden offered comments on Wednesday's chaos at the Capitol which he deemed "one of the darkest days in the history of our nation" and "an unprecedented assault on our democracy."
"All of us here grieve the loss of life, grieve the desecration of the people's house. But what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent. It was not disorder. It was not protests. It was chaos," Biden said. "They weren't protesters. Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists."
Biden placed blame on Trump who, he said, for the past four years has "made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done."
"He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack," Biden said.
Biden also predicted the response would have been very different had the majority of rioters been Black.
"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, there wouldn't have been -- they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable, totally unacceptable," he said.