US President Joe Biden said “powerful forces” were threatening to reverse his climate policies as Trump prepared to take office.

US President Joe Biden has used his final formal address as president to warn about the dangers of “oligarchy” and “excessive wealth” to democracy, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term with an administration full of Billionaires to begin with.

“Today, an oligarchy of extreme wealth, power and influence is taking shape in America, threatening literally all of our democracy, our fundamental rights and freedoms, and offering everyone a fair chance to get ahead,” Biden said in televised remarks from the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday evening.

Biden’s speech comes five days before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and just hours after Israel and Hamas announced they had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, an outcome that appeared to elude the Biden administration for months went, even though many Americans largely rejected the war.

In his speech, Biden warned of “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few super-rich” and “dangerous consequences if their abuse of power goes unchecked.”

According to the Democratic Party, at least eleven billionaires will hold official positions in the new administration of the future President Trump. They include the world’s richest man, billionaire Elon Musk, who Trump said will co-lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Biden also warned that “powerful forces” were threatening to undo his climate achievements as unprecedented wildfires burn in Los Angeles, the U.S. second-largest city.

Biden began his speech with a brief reference to the newly announced ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attributed in part to Trump.

“After eight months of continuous negotiations by my administration, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage-taking agreement,” Biden said.

Biden added that while his team negotiated the deal, he told them to “keep the new administration fully informed” as they would “broadly implement” the deal.

While many voters in the 2024 presidential election called the ceasefire an achievement of his presidency, they said they were unable to support the Democratic Party because of Biden’s stubborn support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Biden, 82, dropped out of the race for a second term after voters and his own party expressed concerns about that performance in the first presidential election debate against then-Republican candidate Donald Trump, prompting Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris to also deny it Presidency and then lose to Trump.

Biden has used his final days in office to introduce a sweeping ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling on more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares), including “the entire U.S. East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico” and parts of the “Northern Bering Sea in Alaska”.

This was seen as an obvious move to undermine Trump’s promise to drill for oil “on day one” of his second term.

Biden said in his farewell address: “It will take time for us to feel the impact of everything we have done together, but the seeds have been planted and they will grow and bloom for decades to come.”