Joe Biden launched his most visceral attack yet on Donald Trump on the first anniversary of the US Capitol riot, accusing his predecessor of holding a “dagger to the throat of America.”

Mr Biden called Mr Trump a “defeated president” to whom his own “bruised ego” was more important than democracy and the constitution.

The US president said: “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. I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”

He added: “Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and incited it, those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy.

“They didn’t come here out of patriotism or principle, they came here in rage, not in service of America, but rather in service of one man.”

Mr Biden lambasted Mr Trump over his inaction on Jan 6 last year.

In a speech at the Capitol he said: “A former president who had just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in a 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.

“He’s not just a former president, he’s a defeated former president, defeated by over seven million of your votes in a full and fair and free election. There is simply zero proof the election results were inaccurate.”

Joe Biden and Kamala Harrisat the US Capitol on the anniversary of the riots CREDIT: AFP

Mr Biden said it was time to tell the “God’s truth” about Jan 6, and condemned “lies conceived and spread for profit and power.”

He said: “We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie.

“The former president of the United States has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.

“He has done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interest, America’s interest, and because his bruised ego means more to him than our democracy or constituion.

“He can’t accept he lost.”

In a statement Mr Trump said his successor had “used my name today to try to further divide America.”

He said: “This political theatre is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed.”

Mr Trump added: “Biden is working hard to try and deflect the incompetent job he is doing, and has done, on the horrible Afghanistan withdrawal (surrender), the Borders, COVID, Inflation, loss of Energy Independence, and much more.

“Everything he touches turns to failure. That’s what you get when you have a rigged Election.”

In his speech Mr Biden said America was “engaged in a new struggle between democracy and autocracy.”

He said China and Russia were betting that America would become more like them, a place for “the autocrat, the dictator, the strongman. I don’t believe that is who we are.”

Mr Biden said: “The former president lies about this election.”

He added: “The lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place have not abated. So we have to be firm, resolute and unyielding in our defence.

“This is not a land of kings or dictators or autocrats. Here in America the people rule, through the ballot.”