Former U.S. President Donald Trump was the first U.S. president not to accept the results of the elections and the will of the people, the nation's current president, Joe Biden, said Thursday.

Biden accused his predecessor of attempting to block the democratic transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, after losing the presidential election.

"For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election; he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol," Biden said in a speech marking the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Congress.

"This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection," he said.

"Democracy was attacked," Biden said at the Capitol. "We the people endure. We the people prevailed."

The president and congressional Democrats started the day in Statuary Hall, one of several spots where rioters swarmed a year ago and interrupted the electoral count. Biden drew a contrast between the truth of what happened and the false narratives that have sprung up about the Capitol assault, including the continued refusal by many Republicans to affirm that Biden won the 2020 election.

"You and I and the whole world saw with our own eyes," Biden said.

He asked those listening to close their eyes and recall what they saw that day, as he described the harrowing, violent scene, the mob attacking police, threatening the House speaker, erecting gallows and threatening to hang the vice president – all while then-President Trump sat at the White House watching it on TV.

"Here is God’s truth about Jan. 6, 2021," Biden said. "They were looking to subvert the Constitution."

"We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. Here's the truth," he said. "The former president of the United States of America has spread a web of lies about the 2020 election."