Biden says his administration will focus on 'demented' and 'dangerous' white supremacists

President Biden called pro-Trump white supremacists "dangerous people," hours after former President Donald Trump declared that his conservative movement has just begun.

Asked during a CNN town hall how he planned to "address this complex and wide-ranging problem" of people who engage in and "embrace white supremacy," Biden called those espousing these ideas "demented" and "dangerous," saying that dealing with them would be a focus for his administration.

"I would make sure that my Justice Department and the Civil Rights Division is focused heavily on those very folks, and I would make sure that we, in fact, focus on how to deal with the rise of white supremacy," Biden said in Milwaukee.

On Saturday, after voting to acquit Trump on an impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection, McConnell called the former president "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day."

Biden said he would not direct his Justice Department to investigate Trump, however.

White House officials have said they are reluctant to weigh in on Trump's second impeachment and the pro-Trump riots that led up to it, insisting that their focus was on leading the country out of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden issued a statement through the White House following Trump's acquittal Saturday but has made few other public remarks about the events.

Trump trained his sights on members of his own party, threatening primary challengers for lawmakers who have failed to back him publicly as he contested the election results and following the pro-Trump riot that led to a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last month.

Hours before the town hall on Tuesday, Trump launched an attack on Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell, blaming the Senate majority leader for election losses and vowing to back primary challenges to GOP incumbents.

"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again," Trump said in a statement issued by his new fundraising committee, Save America PAC.

"He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First," Trump added.

Within days of taking office, Biden's administration said it would direct new attention to threats of racial violence, announcing a new domestic terrorism desk at the National Security Council, steps removed from the president.

Press secretary Jen Psaki billed the initiative at the time as a plan "to determine how the government can share information better about this threat, support efforts to prevent radicalization, disrupt violent extremist networks, and more."

On Tuesday, Biden said his administration would look into instances of white supremacy in groups, including in the military and police departments.

"It's complex, it's wide-ranging, and it's real," Biden said.