President Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump, his likely rival in the 2024 US presidential contest, of “trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election”.
Mr Biden also warned the former president is "willing to sacrifice our democracy" to put himself in power and said the upcoming US election is "all about whether democracy is still America's sacred cause".
The President made the comments in a speech in Pennsylvania marking the anniversary of the January 6 2021, attacks on the US Capitol.
Speaking, the day before the third anniversary of the violent riot by then-President Trump's supporters aiming to keep him in power, Mr Biden said the attack marked a moment where "we nearly lost America - lost it all."
He added that the presidential race is "all about" whether American democracy will survive.
Mr Biden laid out Mr Trump's role in the Capitol attack, as a mob of the Republican's supporters overran the building while lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes that certified Democrat Mr Biden's win.
More than 100 police officers were bloodied, beaten and attacked by the rioters who overwhelmed authorities to break into the building.
At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during or after the rioting, including several officers who died of suicide, a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber, and three other Trump supporters who authorities said suffered medical emergencies.
Mr Biden criticised Mr Trump for "glorifying" rather than condemning political violence.
He said 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."
Mr Trump faces 91 criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss to Mr Biden and three other felony cases.
The former president argues his replacement and top Democrats are themselves seeking to undermine democracy.
Mr Biden continued: “Donald Trump's campaign is about him… Not America. Not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future."
He added: "There's no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do."
The President also said that "politics, fear, money" have led many Republicans to abandon their criticism of Trump after the January 6 attack.
