Donald Trump has slammed President Joe Biden’s speech commemorating the anniversary of the 6 January riot, accusing Mr Biden of dividing the country further and repeating his ‘big lie’ about the 2020 presidential election being stolen.

       Mr Biden assailed Mr Trump for rallying the mob to attack the Capitol while he was “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 Capitol under siege”.

       “We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here’s the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election,” Mr Biden said, without mentioning Mr Trump by name during his address.

       But Mr Trump, who had cancelled a press conference for the anniversary of 6 January, ridiculed Mr Biden for referencing him.

       “Biden, who is destroying our nation with insane policies of open borders, corrupt elections, disastrous energy policies, unconstitutional mandates, and devastating school closures, used my name today to try to further divide America,” Mr Trump said. “This political theatre is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed.”

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       Mr Trump listed a series of critiques of Mr Biden’s policies with varying to no degree of truth. He also criticised the House select committee that is investigating the riot.

       “It’s because they don’t have the answers or justifications for what happened,” he said. “They got away with something, and it is leading to our country’s destruction.”

       Follow live updates on the January 6 anniversary

       The former president also repeated lies about the election being stolen, the very words that whipped up the mob to raid the Capitol. Following the riot, Mr Trump was later impeached by the House, and seven Republican senators voted to convict him alongside every Democrat.

       “They want all conversation concerning the election ‘cancelled,’” Mr Trump said. “Just look at the numbers, they speak for themselves. They are not justifiable, so the complicit media just calls it the Big Lie, when in actuality the Big Lie was the election itself.”

       Mr Trump later released a second statement.

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

       Mr Trump released a third statement later in the day, saying that it was Mr Biden, not Mr Trump, who disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, despite the fact Mr Biden was not in power and questioned whether Mr Biden really got more Black voters than former president Barack Obama, which Mr Biden did indeed do.

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       “They spread a “web of lies” about me and Russia for 4 years to try to overturn the 2016 election, and now they lie about how they interfered in the 2020 Election, too. Big Tech was used illegally,” Mr Trump said.

       “Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!”