Biden warns ‘oligarchy taking shape in America’ and takes credit for Gaza ceasefire in final address as US president

16 January 2025, 03:03 | Updated: 16 January 2025, 09:20

President Joe Biden warned of a 'dangerous oligarchy' in the US as he delivered his final remarks to the American people, capping off 50 years of public service.

Joe Biden addressed the American people as their president for the last time on Wednesday, just days before Donald Trump retakes office.

In his speech, the outgoing president warned that 'an oligarchy' was taking shape in the US, sounding the alarm over the accumulation of wealth and power among a small number of people.

"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead," Mr Biden said.

He pointed to "a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people. Dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked."

Invoking president Dwight Eisenhower's warnings about the military-industrial complex when he left office, he added: "I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well."

Though he did not name anyone, some of the world's richest people and titans of the tech industry have flocked to Mr Trump's side in recent months, particularly after his November victory.

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, spent more than 100 million dollars (£81.7 million) on helping Trump get elected.

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Other CEO's like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have donated to Trump's inauguration and have visited Trump's private club in Florida for an audience with the president-elect.

Mr Biden also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents, after the Supreme Court granted Trump sweeping protections last year from criminal liability over his role in trying to undermine his 2020 defeat to Biden.

Biden also took the opportunity to take credit for the ceasefire announced in Gaza earlier this evening, saying his team was instrumental to getting the agreement over the line.

"This plan was developed and negotiated by my team, and it will be largely implemented by the incoming administration," he said.

"That's why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that's how it should be - working together as Americans."

Both him and Trump have claimed credit for the ceasefire agreement since it was announced, with Trump saying it "could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November."

Biden added: "It will take time to feel the impact of all we've done together, but the seeds are planted and they'll grow and they'll bloom for decades to come."

He also remarked on misinformation on social media, and warned of the dangers that could come with the rise of AI technology.

“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power,” Biden said, commenting on recent developments which have seen Meta follow in the footsteps of X and getting rid of fact-checkers.

He said Americans meant that Americans are “smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”

“We must hold the social platform accountable to protect our children, our families and out very democracy from the abuse of power,” he continued.

He added that artificial intelligence, "the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time," needs proper regulation to make sure it does not "spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation."

But Biden is not leaving the White House in the way that he hoped. He originally tried to run for re-election, brushing aside voters' concerns that he would be 86 years old at the end of a second term.

After shuffling onto the stage and stumbling over his words in a debate with Republican Donald Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from his own party.

He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November. Now Biden is preparing to cede power to someone he has described as an existential threat to the country's democratic institutions.

He implicitly acknowledged that his promises remained unfulfilled in an open letter released on Wednesday morning.

"I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake," Biden wrote.

"The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that's still the case."

The rest of the letter emphasised his accomplishments, including guiding the country out of the coronavirus pandemic, supporting domestic manufacturing and limiting the cost of prescription drugs.