In his first campaign speech of 2024, President Joe Biden cast his likely election opponent, Donald Trump, as a fundamental threat to American democracy.
Mr Trump labelled the speech “pathetic fear mongering” and called Mr Biden the threat to democracy.
At a rally in the state of Iowa Trump said Biden’s record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption, and failure.
Mr Biden’s speech saw him returning to a theme he has invoked over and over in recent years.
This time, he explicitly drew a line to the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol to make his case.
That day, Mr Trump’s supporters violently stormed Congress to stop lawmakers from certifying the presidential election results for Mr Biden, just weeks before he was set to take office.
Mr Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, frequently repeats the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The former president has also attempted to reframe the 6 January attack as a “beautiful day.”
He has referred to the individuals who participated as “patriots” and political prisoners, and vowed to pardon them if he returns to the White House.
Taking direct aim at this rhetoric, Mr Biden accused Mr Trump of trying to “steal history”, attacking his rival by name repeatedly
