Biden warns of dangerous 'oligarchy' of US ultrarich in farewell speech

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has delivered his farewell speech from the Oval Office to mark the final days of his presidency.

Biden wished President-elect Donald Trump success on Wednesday during his speech but warned of a dangerous "oligarchy" under him.

During his speech, Biden raised the alarm about "a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people," warning that "oligarchy is taking shape in America, extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy."

Biden also lashed out at social media firms, with X owner and the world's richest man Elon Musk set to play a key role in Trump's incoming administration and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg courting the Republican.

"Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power," said Biden.

He started his remarks by saying that the Trump administration will largely implement the Gaza ceasefire deal, which was announced earlier on Wednesday by Qatar.

He also touched on Artificial Intelligence (AI), saying that the US must lead on AI, not China.

Last speech

This marked Biden's last speech as president before Trump takes office on January 20.

He reflected on his decades-long career, saying he kept his commitment to be president for all Americans.

"In the past four years, our democracy has held strong and every day, I've kept my commitment to be president for all Americans for one of the toughest periods in our nation's history," Biden said.

The Democrat was forced to drop out of the race last June after a disastrous debate against Trump, 78, who went on to a commanding victory over Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris.

In a farewell interview in the Washington Post published Wednesday, outgoing First Lady Jill Biden took a dig at the Democratic Party for pressing Biden to drop out.

"Let's just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded," she said.