Breached the capital, but they failed. they failed. reporter: biden said trump s assault on democracy started well before january 6th, with a quote web of lies. even before the first ballot was cast, the former president was preemptively sowing doubt about the election results. he d built his lies over months. it wasn t based on any facts. he was just looking for an excuse, a pretext to cover for the truth. he s not just a former president. he s a defeated former president. reporter: biden described the horror the u.s. and the world saw, but he also described what we didn t see. we saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the speaker of the house. literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the united states of america. what did we not see?
Accurate on the same ballot, but the presidential race was flawed? and on the same ballot the same day cast by the same voters? reporter: biden today vowing to defend american democracy from donald trump. 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. and i ll allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy. that line right there getting a lot of attention today. let s bring in mary bruce, live at the capitol tonight. and mary, president biden, as we saw there, never once mentioned former president trump by name. and when he was done speaking to the american people today, reporters up there at the capitol asked him why. reporter: and david, biden said he didn t call out trump by name because he doesn t want this to turn into a political battle between him and the former president. but biden said what happened
Joining us on this interactive show, getting answers. we will be here every day tonight, one year since the attack on the capitol. president biden singling out former president trump. president biden saying, we must absolutely be clear what is true and what is a lie, saying the former president, quote, created and spread a web of lies about the election. that his bruised ego was more important than our democracy, our constitution. and the president said, as the nation and the world watched the horror unfold, what we didn t see. president biden saying the former president was in his private dining room, off the oval office, watching it all, doing nothing to stop it. when lives were at risk, when the capitol was under attack. also tonight, the unexpected moment today on the house floor. former vice president dick cheney next to his daughter, congresswoman liz cheney. the only two republicans there.
We didn t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the 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. reporter: biden accused trump of choosing himself over his country. his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. he can t accept he lost. reporter: the president condemning republican leaders for enabling trump s lies, noting many were eager to challenge the results of the presidential election, but didn t question that republicans won races up and down the ballot, from house to senate to governor. they challenged none of that. somehow those results are
In the house. no republican leaders were there. the only exception, former vice president dick cheney, right there beside his daughter, congresswoman liz cheney. the only two republicans marking the heaviness of this day on the house floor. and just before we came on the air tonight, a candle light vigil on the steps of the capitol to honor the brave officers who defended the capitol that day. and tonight here, what the former vice president told our jon karl about the leadership of the republican party. we have it all covered tonight, beginning with our senior white house correspondent mary bruce, leading us off from the hill tonight. reporter: in the most searing remarks of his presidency, president biden today squarely blamed former president donald trump for the insurrection, dismantling trump s big lie, piece by piece. for the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, as a violent mob