WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told NBC News in an interview Monday that it was a “mistake” to say he wanted to target Republican nominee Donald Trump, but argued that his opponent’s rhetoric was more incendiary while warning that Trump remained a threat to democratic institutions.
The comment in question came during a private call with donors last week, as Biden worked to shore up his imperiled candidacy with key party voters. During that conversation, Biden declared he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and said it was “time to put Trump in the crosshairs,” saying Trump has received very little scrutiny over his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
The NBC interview, during which Biden at times grew defensive over questions about his suitability for office, came as the president and his re-election team prepared to resume campaigning in full swing after a brief weekend pause. assassination attempt against TrumpBiden’s campaign sparked a wave of criticism after the Republican candidate announced his first term. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.
“He’s a clone of Trump on those issues,” Biden told reporters as he headed to Nevada for a series of speeches and campaign rallies. “I don’t see any difference.”
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He expanded on that theme during the NBC interview, telling Lester Holt that Vance has the same policies as Trump when it comes to abortion, taxes and climate change, adding: “He adhered to Trump’s agenda, which he should do, if he runs with Trump.”
Once Vance was chosen by Trump as vice president, the Biden campaign sent out a fundraising application signed by the president, and his team issued a blunt statement saying it had chosen the freshman senator because he would “do everything in his power to support Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.” For her part, Vice President Kamala Harris called Vance to congratulate him and left a voicemail, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Biden made clear to NBC’s Holt that he will continue to focus on Trump. While acknowledging his “mistake,” Biden said he is “not the guy who said he wanted to be a dictator from day one.” It is Trump, not Biden, who uses that kind of rhetoric, Biden said, referring to Trump’s past comments about a “bloodbath” if the Republican loses in November.
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden asked. “You don’t say anything because you might incite someone?”
The NBC interview, scheduled before the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, had been part of a broader strategy by Biden to demonstrate his ability to serve after his disastrous performance in the June 27 debate.
Asked by Holt if he had gotten over the worst of his own party, Biden said 14 million Democratic voters elected him in the primaries, adding, “I hear them.” His mental acuity is “pretty good,” Biden added, but said it was “legitimate” to ask him about his age.
Biden, however, appeared visibly irritable when asked if he was eager to “get back into it” by participating in another debate against Trump, even before the next one scheduled for September.
“I’m on the horse. Where have you been?” Biden said defensively. He rattled off his recent travels around the country and a lengthy news conference last week in Washington where he dodged questions from nearly a dozen reporters. He said he is “demonstrating to the American people that I am in control of all my faculties, that I don’t need notes, I don’t need teleprompters” — though Biden has used notes and teleprompters in recent appearances, which is not unusual.
As for a possible repeat of their rocky debate, Biden said: “I don’t plan on having another performance at that level.”
The Biden campaign recalibrated some of its political plans in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt, pulling advertising off the air and pausing messaging. The White House also canceled Biden’s planned visit Monday to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech on civil rights.
Biden also spoke privately with Trump after the assassination attempt, a call the president described in the NBC interview as “very cordial.”
It has not yet been decided when Biden’s campaign announcements will resume, but he is moving forward with the Nevada portion of his previously scheduled Western swing, which will include remarks to the NAACP and UnidosUS, a civil rights and Latino advocacy group. He will also headline what has been billed as a “campaign rally” on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Biden has acknowledged that his candidacy and agenda will be under attack in the Republican National Convention This week, and aides felt no need to halt their campaign entirely, particularly while Biden is under scrutiny in Milwaukee.
Asked whether the president would adjust his message this week in light of the assassination attempt, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon pointed to his Oval Office speech as a “road map for the entire country,” which she said was no different than Biden’s strategy from the beginning.
Biden’s resumption of the campaign this week comes at a time when Democrats have been at a stalemate over whether the incumbent president should continue in the race, even as he has been defiant that he would remain in it. Biden has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he is still in the race, and his advisers have been operating accordingly.
It was unclear whether the assassination attempt on Trump would weaken Democratic efforts to urge Biden to step aside, but it appears to have slowed some of the momentum — for now. No Democrats have called for Biden to drop out of the race since Saturday night’s shooting.
In the hours before the assassination attempt, however, Biden was still facing skepticism from Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Jared Huffman of California said he asked the president during his meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus about his objective assessment of the trajectory of the race. Huffman said in a social media post that Biden “disagreed with the notion that we are on a losing trajectory.”
But now, several Democrats who requested anonymity were skeptical that there was enough momentum among lawmakers to successfully pressure Biden not to show up, especially since they are scattered and away from Washington until next week and because Biden has said he won’t step aside and used the opportunity to respond quickly to the weekend shooting. The people requested anonymity to characterize private conversations.
Many Democratic Party members had hoped that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would voice their concerns directly to Biden. Jeffries met with him at the White House on Thursday night, while Schumer went to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday to visit Biden.
There were still deep concerns that Biden was not up to the job and a sense that pressure to oust him could mount again when lawmakers return to Washington. Congressional Democrats were watching the Republican National Convention and Biden’s appearances this week with an awareness that the dynamic could shift — again.
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AP Congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro and AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
