US President Joe Biden said it was a mistake for him to say it was “time to put Trump in the crosshairs” days before the attempted assassination of his Republican rival.
Biden made the comment in his first interview since Saturday’s attack on Trump, in which he defended his rhetoric against Donald Trump.
The president told NBC’s Lester Holt that his campaign had a duty to clearly communicate the threat posed by a second Trump term, adding that his words were not the ones to be tempered.
Biden indicated that what he meant was that Democrats should focus more on Trump, his policies and false statements which he made during the presidential debate late last month.
“It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say crosshair. I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing,” he said.
Throughout the interview, Biden made clear he would not step aside from the presidential race, despite calls from members of his own party after his poor debate performance.
“I am old,” he lamented, and at the same time He noted that he is only three years older than Trump.
He said his mental acuity was fine and listed his accomplishments as president, though he acknowledged he was working to prove to Americans he was fit for the job.
“I understand why people say, ‘Gosh, he’s 81. Oh, what will he be like when he’s 83 or 84?’ It’s a legitimate question,” he said.
Biden said he had faith in the voters who overwhelmingly backed him in the Democratic primary. “I hear them.”
The president has repeatedly called on Americans to “lower the temperature” since Saturday’s attack, in which a bullet grazed Trump’s ear.
One member of the public was killed and two others were seriously injured in the attack.
About a dozen Republicans have blamed Biden and other Democrats for inciting the attempt on Trump’s life.
Many have specifically cited Biden’s “crosshairs” comment.
JD Vance, who was introduced as Trump’s running mate on Monday, said after the shooting that Democratic rhetoric about the Republican candidate “led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”
Heated rhetoric
According to Politico, Biden said in a private call to a donor: “I have one job, and that is to beat Donald Trump. I am absolutely confident that I am the best person to be able to do it.” So let’s stop talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in the crosshairs.”
President Biden, in a speech from the Oval Office on Sunday, denounced the attack on Trump, warning that “the political rhetoric in this country has become very heated.”
Asked in the NBC interview whether he had also reflected on whether in his past comments he said anything “that might incite people who are not balanced,” Biden said the incendiary rhetoric had not come from him.
“I have not engaged in that rhetoric,” Biden said. “It is my opponent who is engaging in that rhetoric.”
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just say nothing, because you might incite someone?”
“I’m not the guy who said he wanted to be a dictator on day one, I’m not the guy who refused to accept the election results.”
The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, a kitchen worker from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who was registered as a Republican.
Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper after he attempted to assassinate the former president.
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