It came as the US Supreme Court agreed to hear\u00a0Mr Trump<\/a><\/strong>‘s appeal over\u00a0Colorado’s decision<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to disqualify him from its presidential primary elections.<\/p>\n The state of Maine has\u00a0also followed suit<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court – which is weighted in his favour – could now make a decision that will settle such eligibility questions.<\/p>\n It indicated a speedy decision, scheduling oral arguments for 8 February, ahead of the Colorado primary on 5 March.<\/p>\n The states excluded him over language in the US Constitution’s 14th amendment that\u00a0bars people who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion”<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from holding public office.<\/p>\n A statement by the Trump campaign said it looked forward to a ruling that would “affirm the civil rights of President Trump, and the voting rights of all Americans”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking in Pennsylvania on Friday, President Biden said the election would be a fight for the country’s soul and “all about whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause”.<\/p>\n “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot,” he said.<\/p>\n He painted Mr Trump’s re-election campaign as a backward-looking ego-trip and “all about him, not America”.<\/p>\n The Capitol riots<\/a><\/strong>, in Washington on 6 January 2021, saw Trump supporters run amok after he made false claims the election had been “stolen”.<\/p>\n Mr Biden called the event one of the “worst derelictions by a president in US history” because Mr Trump did not intervene.<\/p>\n “He told the crowd to fight like hell. And all hell was unleashed,” Mr Biden told supporters near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n “Then as usual he left the dirty work to others. He retreated to the White House.”<\/p>\n “We nearly lost America – lost it all,” Mr Biden added.<\/p>\n Five people died due to the chaos and dozens were injured, as thousands descended on Washington to try to stop the election result being certified.<\/p>\n Read more: The ex-president is promising “revenge and retribution” if elected again and his campaign has glorified the riots, said Mr Biden.<\/p>\n He said Mr Trump’s description of his opponents as “vermin” was the “exact same language used in Nazi Germany”.<\/p>\n Mr Biden also hit out at Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 result, saying he had lost 60 court cases and “exhausted every legal avenue”.<\/p>\n The former president faces\u00a0dozens of criminal charges<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0related to his efforts to reverse his election loss.<\/p>\n However, he says top Democrats are themselves trying to subvert democracy by using the legal system to stop his campaign.<\/p>\n Ahead of Mr Biden’s speech, the Trump team put out an ad calling Mr Biden “the true destroyer of democracy” and referencing the special counsel’s investigation into his actions on 6 January.<\/p>\n James Matthews<\/a> Sky News US correspondent @jamesmatthewsky<\/a><\/p>\n Even the leader of the free world can’t control its weather. Joe Biden’s big 6 January speech had been scheduled for the 6th, naturally, but a gloomy weekend weather forecast brought it forward 24 hours.<\/p>\n It was a blot for campaign choreographers never knowingly under-thought, although Biden’s event team did ensure that everything else was dripping with symbolism.<\/p>\n Certainly, there was the venue. Joe Biden spoke at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington spoke to his troops about democracy as a “sacred cause” in 1777. Here, the cause echoed through the centuries as America’s 46th president invoked one former holder of the office to disparage another.<\/p>\n At this unofficial campaign launch, we saw animated Biden – teeth-baring as he took aim at Donald Trump.<\/p>\n There are many in the Democratic movement who complain they don’t see it often enough, suspicious of campaign managers who caution against being sucked into a slugfest, for fear it overshadows Biden’s achievements in office. Democrat jitters are fuelled by polls that show their man somewhere between level and losing to Trump in too many key states.<\/p>\n It is, by no means, the first time that Biden has sounded a warning on democracy but this set-piece speech at the start of election year represents a tweak in the strategy – his advisers speak of a “sharpening not a shift”. They picked their date with the Iowa caucuses just days away, the thinking being that Americans will be turning their minds to choice in a way they haven’t until now.<\/p>\n Elevating democracy as a central campaign theme builds a referendum on his rival. The Biden camp will also hope that re-telling the story of 6 January reinforces the narrative of what took place – this, in a year when Trump will bounce between courts claiming political persecution. The 6 January story told by Trump and his supporters is laced with falsehoods and conspiracy theory, with “patriots”, not rioters, at its heart.<\/p>\n And yet, it is widely believed and endorsed, particularly in Republican circles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Source: \u00a0![\"Republican](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/23\/12\/768x432\/skynews-donald-trump-legal-trials_6408535.jpg?20231231163901\")
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\nThis year’s election will shape the rest of the world – analysis<\/a>
\nWhat legal cases is Trump currently facing?<\/a>
\n‘Extremely high’ chance of Trump being convicted in 2024<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
A ‘SHARPENING NOT A SHIFT’ IN BIDEN’S STRATEGY<\/h4>\n
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<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"