Biden: Jan. 6 riots should follow Trump ‘to his grave’

Former President Biden wrote in his upcoming memoir that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill should follow President Trump “to his grave.”

The Associated Press on Monday reported on an excerpt from Biden’s presidential memoir, “Promise Me, America,” out Nov. 17. The passage focused on the Jan. 6 attack, when rioters attacked Capitol Hill as lawmakers attempted to certify the results of Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.

“To this day, Trump and his supporters continue to preen and posture like they’re supporters of law enforcement,” Biden wrote. “Here’s my view: You don’t get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalized and call yourself a friend of law enforcement. What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave.”

Biden accused Trump of leading an insurrection with the goal to “remain in power after the American people had voted him out of office.”

“The rioters weren’t ‘peaceful protesters,'” the former president wrote. “They came armed to stop the official certification of a legitimate election.”

Biden does share some praiseworthy remarks Trump had toward him. He recounted how during an Oval Office meeting with Trump days after the 2020 election, his then-predecessor said that if “it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends.”

But he also touched on Trump’s effort to curtail Biden’s presidential legacy years later, after defeating former Vice President Harris 107 days after Biden dropped from the 2024 race.

“All presidents must confront a feeling that their legacy is vulnerable to the pendulum of politics and the whims of their successors,” Biden wrote. “In my case, that feeling was magnified by the dismissive and destructive nature of Donald Trump, who seemed unable to tolerate the idea that someone else’s accomplishments might be worth building on rather than tearing down.”

Biden’s book will cover the former president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his decision to run for a second term. The memoir also “reveals the deeply agonizing calculation behind his decision in the summer of 2024 to step aside from the presidential race and to put his party and the nation before his personal ambitions,” according to the publisher Hachette Book Group .

The former president said on Sunday that he would be scaling back events promoting “Promise Me, America” due to his prostate cancer diagnosis. He said that it “hasn’t stopped” him and that “some days are better than others.”

“But sometimes it slows me down,” he continued. “What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.”

Biden had undergone radiation treatment while he worked on the memoir, telling supporters in September that the treatment “ worked as intended .” His treatment was completed in September 2025.