Jan. 6 updates: Biden tears into Trump for inciting Capitol attack

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reflected on the somber anniversary in remarks from the Senate floor.

"It is difficult to put into words what it is like to stand here on this floor on the U.S. Senate on this day of all days," Schumer said.

"What we must do is stare truth in the face, however ugly -- in the face," he said later. "The attack of Jan. 6 didn’t come out of the blue. It was not an act of God. It was not something that came from foreign soil. It wasn’t even just some mere protests that got out of hand. No, no, no, no, no."

"Jan 6 was an attempt to reverse through violent means the outcome of a free and fair election an insurrection. Call it what it is – what it was – and it was fundamentally rooted in Donald Trump’s big lie," he said.

The Senate chamber, from where Schumer spoke, was breached on Jan. 6 last year, while House lawmakers barricaded the doors to their chamber. He said, "To all my colleagues and staff who struggle to get through today -- you’re not alone. You are not alone. We are here by your side."

The Senate leader choked up talking about the service of Capitol Police, looking to them who also must "relive the day."

"Our democracy survived and so not only do we thank them, but we commit to continue supporting them and fighting for them as they fought to defend this building," he said.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Trump responded to Biden's scathing Jan. 6 speech this morning with a lengthy statement claiming it's Biden who "used my name today to try to further divide America."

Though Biden didn't actually mention Trump by name, it was clear he was referencing Trump throughout his speech, fact-checking Trump's persistent false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden by 74 Electoral College votes and over seven million popular votes.

He and his allies filed over 60 lawsuits challenging the outcome of the election over alleged fraud, despite no evidence of widespread fraud that could have had a significant impact on the results. Nearly every single lawsuit was rejected, thrown out, or withdrawn, including two denials from the U.S. Supreme Court.

-ABC News' Will Steakin and Olivia Rubin

After his strongest speech to date blaming Trump for the violence at the Capitol, reporters pressed Biden on his way out of the building why he did not mention the former president by name, and he argued that he didn’t want to make it into a "contemporary political battle" between the two of them. 

"I think we just have to face the facts of what happened. Draw a clear picture for the American people. It's not about me, it's not about the vice president, it really isn’t. That’s the thing that bothers me the most about the attitude that seems emerging in some degree in American politics," Biden said. "It’s about the system, and somebody who decides to put himself above everything. And, so, I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It's way beyond that."

A reporter followed up, "Does calling him out divide more than it heals, though?"

"No no, look. The way you have to heal -- you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can't pretend. This is serious stuff. And a lot of people -- understandably -- want to go -- you know, 'I’d just as soon not face it.' You've got to face it. That's what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it, and move on," Biden said.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky

Laying out the three "big lies" he said the former president has tried to sell around the 2020 election -- that the election was stolen, the results couldn’t be trusted, and that those who stormed the Capitol a year ago were patriots -- Biden tore into Trump as a loser in denial in his remarks.

"So at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but of the shadow of lies?" he said. "The way forward is to recognize the truth, and to live by it."

Asking Americans to recall the scenes from last year, Biden described in detail the attacks on law enforcement, the gallows erected to “Hang Mike Pence" and chants to harm Pelosi, before turning to President Trump’s inaction. 

"What did we not see? We didn't see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House watching it all on television. And doing nothing. For hours. As police were assaulted. Lives at risk. The nation's capital under siege," Biden lamented.

"I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today. But I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation," he said. "And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez