United States President-elect Joe Biden today (January 7) called out United States law enforcement for the difference in treatment of Black Lives Matter protestors and the ‘mob of thugs’ who stormed the US Capitol yesterday.

Biden, before introducing his nominees for key positions in the Department of Justice earlier today, shared his thoughts on yesterday’s attempted coup on the Capitol.

The president-elect blamed President Donald Trump, stating: “He unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy from the outset, and yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack.”

Biden then went on to describe all the ills of Trump’s tenure in office, outlining all of Trump’s attempts to undermine national institutions.

He went on to add that his granddaughter sent him a photo of scores of law enforcement officials lined up, awaiting Black Lives Matter protestors last summer – a stark contrast to the treatment of the ‘riotous mob’ and ‘domestic terrorists’ present at the attempted coup last evening. 

“I got a text from my granddaughter, Finnigan Biden, who is a senior in her last semester at the University of Pennsylvania. She sent me a photo of military people in full military gear, scores of them lining the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, because of protests by Black Lives Matter. She said ‘Pop, this isn’t fair’. No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that’s true and it is unacceptable,” he said.

Biden proceeded to hammer his fist into the podium before him, “totally unacceptable. The American people saw it in plain view.”

When asked whether he thinks the 25th amendment should be invoked to remove President Trump from office, Biden chose not to answer, stating he wanted to focus solely on the Department of Justice and his nominees. 

THE 25TH AMENDMENT

The 25th amendment states how a United States president and vice president may be succeeded or replaced. The amendment is laid out in sections, with each addressing a different reason a president may be replaced. It is the fourth section of the amendment that is being looked at currently. It states that in case the president is unable to declare his/her competence, the fourth section of the amendment requires the vice president and the cabinet to jointly ascertain this and, if they do so, then the vice president immediately assumes the position of acting president.