Joe Biden branded Donald Trump "racist" and said he wished that the president would "open the Bible instead of brandishing it."
The Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee condemned Trump for being "part of the problem" amid the chaos surrounding George Floyd's death.
Speaking in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning, Biden addressed the nation on the civil unrest facing communities across the country.
"The United States must be part of the solution, not the problem. But this president today is part of the problem and excellerates it," Biden said.
He continued: "When he treated the words 'when the looting starts the shooting starts,' they weren't the words of a president. They were the words of a racist Miami police chief in the 1960s.
"When he tweeted that protesters 'would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs,' they weren't the words of a president. They were the kind of words Bull Connor who would've used unleashing his dogs on innocent women and children."
In another jab at the president, Biden denounced Trump's Monday visit to "one of the most historic churches in the country" and wished Trump opened the Bible "once in a while."
“When peaceful protestors dispersed in order for a President… the White House, using tear gas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo op… we can be forgiven for believing the President is more interested in power than in principle, more interested in serving the passions of his base the the needs of the people in his care,” he said.
Biden, who occasionally coughed throughout his address, added: “The President held up the Bible at St. John's church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something."
Trump walked out of the White House on Monday to pay tribute to a church hit by arsonists as anti-racism protests against police brutality continue to rage outside his doorstep.
While surrounded by police and military men, Trump strolled past buildings defaced with rioters' graffiti to pay homage to a 200-year-old church set ablaze by arsonists the night before during heated protests in Washington DC.
As peaceful demonstrators were dispersed with tear gas and hit by rubber bullets and flash grenades, Trump – who had been accused of hiding from protesters over the weekend in a White House bunker – made a surprise visit to the historic St. John's Episcopal Church.
Before Trump paid a visit to the torched church, he announced in his remarks from the Rose Garden that he was taking new measures to quell the increasingly violent protests around the US.
The president vowed justice for George Floyd, who died last Monday after former cop Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck and suffocated him for nearly nine minutes.
He declared himself "your president of law and order" and said he was committed to upholding laws and mobilizing the military to end nationwide looting and rioting.
Despite Biden's criticism towards Trump, he said in his Tuesday speech: "I wish I could say that hate began with Donald Trump and will end with him. It didn't and it won't.
"American history isn't a fairy tale. The battle of the soul of this nation has been a constant push and pull for more than 240 years."
President Trump also spoke out on Tuesday, saying that New York has been lost to looters and "all other forms of lowlife and scum" after stores across the city were broken into and destroyed.
"New York was lost to the looters, thugs, Radical Left, and all others forms of Lowlife & Scum," Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning.
"The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces."
Biden's comments come after his string of gaffes made this year.
In May, he told The Breakfast Club listeners "if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."
He later excused his controversial "you ain't black" comments about undecided voters, saying he was being "a wise guy" with host Charlamagne Tha God.
Also in May, Biden mistakenly claimed 85,000 jobs have been lost in the US as a result of coronavirus and millions of Americans have died.
The blunder followed a previous slip-up, where he called the disease Covid-9, rather than Covid-19 — and referred to Wuhan where the disease originated as "Luhan."
Back in March, Biden confused his wife for his sister during an impassioned Super Tuesday speech at his campaign headquarters in California.
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