Published: 05:54 GMT, 9 November 2025 | Updated: 05:54 GMT, 9 November 2025

Former president Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump, accusing his successor of defacing the White House with a $300 million vanity project.

The 82-year-old Democrat was speaking at the Nebraska Democratic Party's Ben Nelson Gala on Friday night when he went after Trump's new ballroom.

Biden said: 'Anyone seen what he's done to the East Wing of the People's House?' Biden asked, his voice rising over roars from the audience.

'It's a perfect symbol of his presidency. Trump is taking a wrecking ball not only to the People's House but to the Constitution, to the rule of law, to our very democracy. Who in the hell does he think he is?'

The speech marked a joyful but defiant comeback for Biden who has been undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer but showed flashes of his old energy and righteous anger.

Though his voice occasionally faltered, the crowd was on its feet throughout the 30-minute address, cheering as he spoke about repairing America's divisions and defending democratic norms.

'What we have to do is repair our faults, and that's what we began to do on Tuesday,' he shouted, referencing this week's Democratic victories in key races across the country.

It was Biden's second public appearance in a week, and his first purely political event since Labor Day 2024, when he appeared alongside then Vice President Kamala Harris at a union rally in Pittsburgh, two months before the presidential election that saw Trump reclaim the Oval Office.

In a fiery return to the political stage, Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump on Friday night, accusing his successor of defacing 'the People's House' with a $300 million vanity project thundering, 'Who in the hell does he think he is?'