Biden takes departing jab at Trump, says he was a 'genuine threat to democracy'
President Biden took a departing jab at Trump, saying that what the president-elect did was a "genuine threat to democracy."
Ahead of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Biden was asked if he still thought Trump was a threat to democracy.
"We've got to get back to establishing basic democratic norms," Biden told reporters in the White House East Room on Sunday. "I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I'm hopeful that we are beyond that."
Biden made the comments to the press after signing the Social Security Fairness Act.
Biden also discussed his plans to visit New Orleans on Monday to grieve with family members of victims and meet with officials after the terrorist attack in the city on New Year's Day.
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"I've been there. There's nothing you can really say to somebody who has had such a tragic loss. And my message is going to be personal to them," he said. "They just have to hang on to each other and there will come a day when they think of their loved one, and they'll smile before a tear comes to their eye."
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The visit comes after 14 people were killed and dozens injured after police said 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed a rented pickup truck into pedestrians on bustling Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning. Police fatally shot Jabbar after he opened fire on officers.
"We established beyond any reasonable doubt that New Orleans was a single man who acted alone. All the talk about conspiracies with other people, no evidence of that, zero," Biden said.
"He had real problems in terms of his own, I think, mental health, going on. And he acted alone in the same way as what went on in Las Vegas," Biden said. "But there is no evidence, zero evidence of the idea that these are foreigners coming across the border, but they worked here, they remained here."