Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Pool/AP
President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sunday, July 14, 2024.
Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden defended himself against criticism over his rhetoric, which came under fire following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, but said it was a mistake to say it was “time to put Trump on the spot.”
“It was a mistake to use that word,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Monday.
“I meant to say that we should focus on him. On what he is doing. On his policies, on the amount of lies he told in the debate,” she said.
Biden tried to steer the conversation back to Trump’s own words: “I’m not the guy who said, ‘I want to be a dictator from Day 1.’ I’m not the guy who refused to accept the outcome of the election. I’m not the guy who said I wouldn’t automatically accept the outcome of this election. You can’t love your country only when you win. And so the focus was on what he’s saying.”
Pressed by Holt on whether he had used inciting language, Biden suggested it was necessary to characterize Trump as a “threat to democracy.”
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy – which is real – when a president says things like the ones he says? Do you say nothing because it could incite someone?” he asked.
He focused back on Trump’s own words, adding: “I’m not making that rhetoric. Now my opponent is making that rhetoric: talking about how it will be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s going to pardon all the actions, I guess he’s going to suspend the sentences of all those who were arrested and sentenced to prison for what happened at the Capitol. I’m not there to make fun of it, like when you remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer, talking, joking about that.”
This is breaking news and will be updated.
