"They weren’t protesters. Don’t dare call them protesters," US President-elect Joe Biden said, speaking from his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. "They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple."
"I wish we could say we couldn't see it coming, but that isn't true," Biden continued, noting US President Donald Trump had spent his entire presidency "making his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done."
Biden called the incident an "all-out attack" on US democratic institutions such as the free press and US intelligence services.
The forthcoming US president's choice of words reflected the language of headlines around the globe on Thursday, which splashed words like "insurrection" and "coup attempt" across newspaper front pages.
The Wednesday uprising in Washington, DC, saw hundreds of Trump supporters storm the Capitol, smashing and looting the national legislature building in a bid to halt the certification of US Electoral College results that selected Biden as the next president, not Trump. Trump has claimed the November 2020 election was stolen by coordinated acts of fraud, tipping the ballot counts in Biden's favor, although subsequent probes and lengthy recountings of the ballots by hand ultimately yielded the same result as before.
As violent events unfolded at the US Capitol building, Biden tweeted, "America is so much better than what we’re seeing today," urging incumbent President Trump to call on protesters to leave the US Capitol via a televised address.
Lawmakers have since moved to impeach Trump for spurring the insurrectionists into action, and senior lawmakers and administration officials have openly discussed attempting to invoke the 25 Amendment to remove him from power.
Former Attorney General William Barr slammed President Trump, describing the events as a “betrayal of his office and supporters”.
A former US vice president and US senator, Biden ran against Trump on the Democratic ticket in the November 2020 election. His campaign was dogged by scandals involving his family's business dealings as well challenges of his ability to govern effectively, given his age of 78 years and perceived declining mental abilities by critics.