Biden privately said Trump should be prosecuted for January 6 riot
US President Joe Biden has privately said that his predecessor Donald Trump should be prosecuted over the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, a new report shows.
In addition, Biden, a Democrat, described the Republican former president as a "threat to democracy," the New York Times reported, citing two individuals with knowledge of the conversation.
Biden made those remarks to members of his inner circle late last year, calling for action to be taken against Trump.
According to the Times, the report was based on interviews with more than a dozen people, "including officials in the Biden administration and people with knowledge of the president's thinking."
Biden has become frustrated with US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is investigating the Capitol attack, according to people close to the president.
The president has described Garland as a "ponderous judge," saying he wants to see him take more "decisive action" regarding the deadly riot, according to The Times.
Biden has, however, never articulated his frustrations about the January 6 cases directly to Garland, the Times report says.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, who serves on the House committee investigating the riot, said last week that the Department of Justice "must move swiftly" and told the attorney general to "do your job so that we can do ours."
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Garland said the prosecutors handling the case only felt an urgency "to do the right thing," which has forced them to "follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead."
During the riot on Jan. 6, Trump supporters occupied the US Capitol while lawmakers were in the process of reviewing the certification of state electors which indicated Biden's victory. Some Trump supporters had hoped that this process could have resulted in some of the electors being disqualified, thus overturning the outcome of the presidential election.
Now, the Democratic-led committee is expected to make a formal request to the US Justice Department that it consider charging Trump. The House said early in last month it believed Trump might have committed multiple felonies.
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