President Joe Biden is defending his decision to tell donors it was “time” to put former President Donald Trump in a “bullseye” just days before an assassination attempt.
During an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, the president was asked about his inflammatory rhetoric about Trump in light of the attempt on his life.
“Well, let’s talk about the conversation this has started. And it’s really about language. When we say out loud and the consequences of those, you called your opponent an existential threat. On a call a week ago, you said it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye. There’s some dispute about the context, but I think you appreciate that words matter,” Holt said.
Biden responded, “I didn’t say crosshairs. I’m talking about focus on. Look, the truth of the matter was when I guess I was talking about it at the time, was there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda.
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Holt interjected, “Yeah. The term is bullseye.”
“It was a mistake to use… I didn’t I didn’t say crosshairs. I’m the bullseye. Focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing,” Biden said.
He added, “Focus on one of his strongest policies. Focus on the number of lies he told the main focus. I mean, there’s there’s a whole range of things that, look, 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. I’m not the guy who said 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, and I mean the idea…”
Still, Holt asked, “Taken a step back and done a little soul searching on things that you may have said that could incite, people who are not balanced?”
“Well, I don’t think. 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 cause it may incite somebody?” he continued. ” Look, I, I’ve, I’ve not engaged in that rhetoric. Now, my, my, my opponent is against that rhetoric. He talks about a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s kind of forgive of or actually, 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, I remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi was hit with a hammer.. joking about it.”
During a meeting with donors last week, Biden said, “We need to move forward. Look, we have roughly 40 days til the convention, 120 days til the election. We can’t waste any more time being distracted.”
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” he added.
