Former U.S. President Joe Biden says President Donald Trump’s conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack should remain part of his legacy, and criticizes Trump’s later clemency for people convicted over the events.
The Atlantic published the excerpt from Biden’s forthcoming memoir, Promise Me, America, at 5 a.m. ET on Nov. 9. Biden wrote that “Donald Trump led an insurrection” and said Trump’s actions that day should “follow him to his grave.”
Biden described the rioters as armed and said they sought to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records a 306-232 Electoral College victory for Biden. It says violent unrest at the Capitol delayed certification until 3:44 a.m. ET on Jan. 7, 2021.
Trump used two forms of clemency in his Jan. 20, 2025, proclamation. He reduced the sentences of 14 named people to time served and pardoned everyone else convicted of offenses connected with the Capitol events. The order also instructed the attorney general to ask courts to dismiss pending indictments with prejudice.
Biden put the number of people pardoned at nearly 1,600. The proclamation does not give an overall count. Trump described the clemency as a step toward national reconciliation, saying it ended “a grave national injustice.”
Publisher Little, Brown and Company has scheduled Promise Me, America for release Nov. 17.
