US President Joe Biden has said privately that he believes Donald Trump should be prosecuted over the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, according to a report.
Mr Biden told members of his inner circle late last year that the one-term president was a threat to democracy and action against him should be taken, according to The New York Times.
But the president has reportedly never told that directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is in charge of the Department of Justice and is overseeing cases related to the attempt by Mr Trump’s supporters to prevent certification of Mr Biden’s election victory.
“And while the president has never communicated his frustrations directly to Mr Garland, he has said privately that he wanted Mr Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan 6,” the newspaper stated in its report on Saturday.
It came one day after Mr Garland told reporters that he and his team of prosecutors would “follow the facts of the law wherever they may lead” and were focussed on doing “the right thing.”
The newspaper said that it had spoken to more than a dozen people, including Biden administration officials, and granted all of them anonymity.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that the president believed Mr Garland had “decisively restored” the Justice Department’s independence.
“President Biden is immensely proud of the attorney general’s service in this administration and has no role in investigative priorities or decisions,” stated Mr Bates.
The Independent has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Last week it emerged that official White House records from 6 January, 2021, show a gap of more than seven hours in phone calls placed to or from former President Donald Trump as the violence on Capitol Hill was taking place.
That gap leaves out calls between Mr Trump and other indivuduals that took place during the riot, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and GOP senators Mike Lee and Tommy Tuberville.
The gap is mot likely explained by calls being made on cell phones and not through the White House switchboard.
