WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said it was a “mistake” for him to say it was time to “take aim” at former President Donald Trump during an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt.
Biden rejected accusations that his speeches or rhetoric could have incited the gunman who tried to kill Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“I meant to say let’s focus on him, let’s focus on what he’s doing, let’s focus on his policies, let’s focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” Biden said in the excerpt broadcast by NBC News of Tuesday’s pre-recorded interview.
Biden made the comment about Trump as he struggles to drop out of the Democratic nomination after a poor debate performance that underscored concerns about his age. But after the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday night, Biden said in an Oval Office speech that it was time to tone down the political rhetoric.
Republicans like Trump’s new running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, blamed Biden’s rhetoric for the assassination attempt.
In the interview with Holt, Biden rejected that criticism.
He told Holt that, unlike Trump, he did not say he would be a dictator on his first day in office or refuse to accept the outcome of the last presidential election.
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he does? Do you say nothing because it might incite someone? Look, I have not used that rhetoric. Now, my… opponent has used that rhetoric,” Biden said.
By contrast, Trump said there would be a “bloodbath” if he lost the 2024 election, promised to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and mocked a hammer attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, she said.
