President Joe Biden defended his rhetoric following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, saying his rival’s rhetoric is the real issue.
Speaking to NBC News’ Lester Holt, Biden defended his language but said it was a mistake to use the term “bullseye” when making a comment about Trump.
“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden said. “I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told at the debate.”
The President then attempted to use Trump’s own words against him, blaming him for the violent rhetoric in the country.
“I’m not the guy that said, ‘I want to be a dictator on day one.’ I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election,” he said. “I’m not the guy who said he won’t accept the outcome of this election automatically. You can’t only love your country when you win. And so the focus was on what he’s saying.”
Some Trump allies have alleged Biden and other Democrats are to blame for the violence that took place Saturday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was repeatedly pressed Monday on recent comments from Biden, which included hat Trump would be president “over my dead body” and that “another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious.”
“What I would refer you to … is the last three days and what the president has said. You heard directly from him what he’s laid out, how he sees the future, how it’s important to be able to speak to different agendas. It is important to speak to someone’s record, someone’s character. Violence has no place in America. Political violence is not OK. It is not. It is just not,” she said.
In the interview, Holt pressed Biden on the language and the way it is used.
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy – which is real – when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything – because it may incite somebody?” he questioned.
Biden answered: “I am not engaged in that rhetoric. Now my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric: He talks about it’ll be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s going to forgive all the actions, I guess suspend the sentences of all those who were arrested and sentenced to go to jail because of what happened in the Capitol. I’m not out there making fun of like when remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer going – talking – joking about it?”
