President Biden defended saying it is ‘time to put Trump in the bullseye’ just days after the assassination attempt on the former President and attempted to explain what he meant amid calls for politicians to tone down the rhetoric.
Biden sat down with NBC Nightly News’ anchor Lester Holt for an exclusive interview where he was asked about his words before the shooting in a July 8 call to donors.
‘You said it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye. There’s some dispute of the context, but you appreciate that words matter,’ Holt said.
‘I didn’t say crosshairs,’ Biden responded. ‘I was talking about focus on.’
‘Look the truth of the matter was, what I guess I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda,’ Biden continued.
When Holt pointed out that the term was bullseye, not crosshairs, Biden said ‘it was a mistake to use the word — I didn’t say crosshairs, I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him.’
President Biden defends saying it’s time to put Trump ‘in the bullseye’ and says he meant ‘focus on him.’
Biden said what he meant was ‘focus on what he’s doing, focus on his policies.’
The president then went after Trump including the ‘lies he told in the debate’ and said there’s a whole range of things.
‘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,’ Biden said.
The president was asked if he had done any ‘soul searching’ on the things he has said that could incite people who are ‘not balanced.’
The president paused for for a moment before his response.
‘Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy which is real when a president says things like he says?’ Biden said. ‘Do you just not say anything because it might incite somebody?’
The clip was of Biden’s response was released Monday afternoon ahead of the full interview. It comes as the president is headed back out on the campaign trail this week after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, PA where a bullet grazed the former president’s ear.
Biden immediately condemned the shooting after it happened and called it ‘sick.’
He has tried to tamp down the anxiety and anger that has seeped into the election cycle after the assassination attempt. Some Republicans have placed blame on Democrats and the president’s rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.
On Sunday, the president gave a speech from the Oval Office where he called for an end to political violence and noted both Democrats and Republicans have been a target of it.
‘You know the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,’ Biden said. ‘Politics must never be a literal battlefield – God forbid a killingfield.’
Donald Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the GOP convention on Sunday, one day after the attempt on his life
Biden claimed in his interview with Holt that he has not engaged in that rhetoric.
‘Now my opponent has engaged in that rhetoric,’ Biden told NBC News. He pointed to Trump saying there would be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses and stating he would suspend the sentences of the January 6 rioters.
The president also slammed Trump for joking about the hammer attack on Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul.
The criticism comes as Biden heads back out on the campaign trail this week.
Biden was originally to be in Austin, TX on Monday as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee, WI, but his campaign scrapped the trip following the shooting.
Biden now heads to Las Vegas, where he will spend two days talking to black and latino voters as he struggles to reset his campaign in the aftermath of the horrific attack on his political rival.