Joe Biden accepts Democratic Presidential nomination as Trump slams election as 'a scam'

Joe Biden has accepted the Democratic presidential nomination vowing to end the season of "darkness". 

Biden wasted no time in criticising President Donald Trump - who just hours earlier was distancing himself from yet another criminal case.

"It's time for us - for we the people - to come together," Biden said.

He formally accepted the nomination for President on Friday (NZ time) - his third shot for the Oval Office.

Biden is promising to guide US citizens through the troubling times in a way Trump has failed to. 

"He's failed to protect us," Biden said of Trump. "He's failed to protect America and my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.

"May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of America's darkness began here tonight."

Trump was quick to slam Biden as "just words" on Twitter and the election as "a scam" on Fox News.

"This will be the most fraudulent election in history," Trump said.

All the while, Trump was distancing himself from actual fraud charges levelled at his former Chief Advisor Steve Bannon.

Joe Biden, left, and Donald Trump.
Joe Biden, left, and Donald Trump. Photo credit: Getty

Bannon has pleaded not guilty to allegations he took millions of dollars from donors who had participated in a fundraiser for Trump's infamous wall. 

He was released on Friday (NZ time) on a $5 million bond - now the sixth close associate of the President to be criminally charged.  

"I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time," Trump told Fox.