Biden ahead of Jan. 6 anniversary: 'We nearly lost America'

US President Joe Biden marked three years since the attacks on the Capitol building on January 6 with a speech warning against the threat posed by a second presidency under Donald Trump.

Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, appear headed for a presidential rematch this November with national polls showing the two candidates tied in terms of public support.

Biden's speech was held on the eve of the anniversary of the January 6 riots that saw Trump supporters storm the Capitol building while lawmakers were endorsing Biden's electoral victory.

Biden: 'I won the election, and he was a loser'

The president said Trump's campaign was driven by self-interest rather than an interest in helping the American people and that the former president would "sacrifice democracy" if it got him back into the Oval Office. 

"I won the election, and he was a loser," Biden said. "He had one act left, the violence of January 6." 

The current US president said the Capitol riots were a day "we nearly lost America."

Speaking from Valley Forge, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a freezing winter 250 years ago during the US Revolutionary War, Biden discussed the threats to democracy after having invited historians and scholars to the White House for a conversation about the topic.

Biden said that Trump glorified the violence on January 6, which left at least nine people dead either during or after the rioting.

Biden asserted that by "trying to rewrite the facts of January 6, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election." 

"Donald Trump's campaign is about him," Biden said, referring to Trump's plans to get revenge on political enemies if he takes back the White House. "Not America. Not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future."   

"Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot," Biden said. 

Trump accuses Biden of 'fear-mongering'

Former President Trump offered a withering response to the Biden comments, calling his Democratic rival's remarks "pathetic" and "fear-mongering."

"Biden's record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption and failure... That's why Crooked Joe is staging a pathetic, fear-mongering campaign event in Pennsylvania today," Trump told supporters in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Biden vs. Trump: Round two

It still remains to be seen whether Biden's warnings will have any impact on voters as the presidential campaigning season kicks off.

Biden beat Trump with 51.3% of the vote in 2020, but rising inflation and concerns over the president's advanced age have sparked concern even among his supporters.

For his part, Trump is set to hold a rally in Iowa on Sunday — the first state to host the Republican nominating contest, which the former president is leading by a large margin.

Trump is also facing numerous court cases, including a trial over his alleged involvement in the January 6 riots, charges of interfering with the 2020 election in the state of Georgia, and he faces charges of mishandling classified documents found in his home.

Courts in the states of Colorado and Maine have barred him from appearing on primary election ballots for having engaged in insurrection. 

Later on Friday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Trump against the Colorado ballot ban.

Three of the current Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Trump.

wd, ab/sms (Reuters, AFP)