President Joe Biden is standing by his choice to inform donors that it was “time” to target former President Donald Trump just days before an assassination attempt. When questioned by NBC News’ Lester Holt, the president addressed his provocative language about Trump in the context 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.
Watch:
In an exclusive interview with Lester Holt, President Biden said it was a mistake to use the word “bullseye” while discussing former President Trump, but said to “focus on what [Trump is] doing”. pic.twitter.com/TufdyiZq8v
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 15, 2024
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.”
