Biden calls Charleston Emanuel AME shooting ‘domestic terrorism.’ The feds never did.

Six years ago, on the night of June 17, a white supremacist joined 12 Black parishioners for a Wednesday night Bible study at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, and then, after they prayed together, he decided to shoot them.

In his rampage, he killed nine people. What happened that night in the church basement would be called a hate crime, a tragedy and “an act of pure evil.”

But on Thursday evening, the six-year anniversary of the massacre at the historic Black church in downtown Charleston, President Joe Biden called it “an act of domestic terrorism.”

“Today marks six years since a white supremacist took nine precious lives at Mother Emanuel in an act of domestic terrorism,” Biden said in a tweet. “We must honor their lives with action, including reducing gun violence and addressing domestic terrorism.”

The gunman was convicted of 33 federal and 13 state charges stemming from the massacre, and was sentenced to death. But terrorism was not among the charges.

“Hate crimes are the original domestic terrorism,” then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch said of the federal charges brought against Dyalnn Roof in 2015.

But Biden’s decision to characterize the 2015 shooting as domestic terrorism on Thursday comes amid a push by his administration to combat domestic terrorism moving forward.

Biden was Vice President when the Charleston church shooting happened. In the wake of the massacre, which came a month after the loss of his son, Beau, Biden attended a Sunday service at the church.

On Tuesday, the White House released its 32-page plan to combat domestic extremism. What happened in Charleston is cited in the second sentence.

“Too often over the past several years, American communities have felt the wrenching pain of domestic terrorism. Black church members slaughtered during their bible study in Charleston. A synagogue in Pittsburgh targeted for supporting immigrants. A gunman spraying bullets at an El Paso Walmart to target Latinos. It goes against everything our country strives to stand for in the world, and it poses a direct challenge to America’s national security,our democracy, and our national unity,” it reads.

The new strategy includes enhancing the government’s analysis of domestic terrorism and improving the information that is shared between local, state, and federal, law enforcement agencies. It also calls for more scrutiny of public social media posts.

Roof posted his hate-filled manifesto on a website online, along with photographs of him displaying his Glock .45 caliber pistol and posing with a Confederate battle flag.

“In the FBI’s view, the top domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a speech Tuesday.

The Justice Department is also evaluating whether the administration should recommend Congress pass a specific domestic terrorism law, which does not currently exist.

Biden’s comment joined a wave of remembrances, marking the anniversary of the hate crime that shocked the nation.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tweeted a photo of mourners who had gathered outside the church in 2015.

“Six years ago nine innocent lives were taken after showing love and kindness to a stranger,” Haley wrote. “They were the best of us and a reminder of who we should all strive to be.”

Then she added three hashtags: #MotherEmanuel, #NeverForget and, lastly, #AngelsAmongUs.