During a high-stakes conversation at the White House with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt on Monday, Joe Biden addressed his prior comments about putting Donald Trump “in the bullseye”, saying he thinks there needs to be more focus on the former president’s agenda.
In a preview of the interview that will air on Monday night at 9pm ET, Holt asked Biden about the language he had used to describe Trump – as an “existential threat”, and, on a call with Democratic donors, that “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye” – and the consequences for the election of the attempted assassination of his opponent two days ago in Pennsylvania.
“I didn’t say crosshairs. I was talking about ‘focus on’,” Biden said. “The truth of the matter was, I guess what I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda.”
“The term was ‘bullseye’,” Holt said.
“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden replied. “I didn’t mean … I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye … I meant focus on it. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate.”
Biden fumbled somewhat during the answer, leaving it unclear whether he was apologizing for telling donors to put Trump in a bullseye or whether he was correcting himself after using the word “crosshairs” instead of “bullseye”.
Biden said: “Look, I’m not the guy that said, ‘I want to be a dictator on day one.’ I’m not the guy who refused to accept the outcome of the election.”
Holt pressed the president on whether he had done any “soul-searching” about whether his language could “incite people who are not balanced”.
Biden said: “Look. How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when the president says things like he says?
“Do you just not say anything because you might incite somebody? Look. I have not engaged in that rhetoric. Now, my opponent has engaged in that rhetoric. He talks about there will be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s going to forgive all the … actually, I guess suspend the sentence of all that were arrested and sentenced to go jail because of what happened at the Capitol.
“I’m not out there making fun of … like, remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer, talking about it? Joking about it?”
Biden suggested that Trump’s apparent forgiveness of January 6 rioters was also an incitement to violence. “When you say that therre’s nothing wrong with going to the capitol … putting up a noose for the former vice-president, and then you say you’re going to forgive people for that?
Biden said he had had two meetings in the White House situation room about the attempted assassination, and has asked for an independent review of the performance of the Secret Service. “The question is whether they should have anticipated what happened,” Biden said, noting that coordination with local law enforcement complicates the task of protection.
Holt asked what Biden thought of questions about his decision to continue his run from Democrats in Congress.
“We knew it was going to be a close race from the moment he announced,” Biden said. He cited polling data to say “it’s essentially a toss-up race”.
Biden touted his record, likening it to that of Franklin Roosevelt in its success.
“I’m old,” Biden said. “But I’m only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good. I’ve gotten more done than any president has in a long time in three and a half years. I’m willing to be judged on that.”
He added: “The job’s not finished.”
The president became combative during the interview at that point, taking the media to task for ignoring Trump’s conduct.
“Why don’t you ever talk about the 18 to 28 times Trump lied?” Biden said, incredulous at the question. “I had a bad, bad night. I wasn’t feeling well at all. I screwed up … Why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he’s told?”
Biden’s one-on-one interview – a relative rarity during his time in office – comes amid continuing calls for the president to step away from his re-election run after his weak performance against Trump during a debate on 27 June raised questions about his age and fitness to serve.
Biden’s public appearances have been closely scrutinized since the debate for signs of personal weakness. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos interviewed Biden on 5 July, and asked if he would publish the results of a neurological exam. The president refused. He pointedly displayed a command of foreign policy knowledge at an hour-long press conference at the Nato summit on Friday.
The president has made increasingly forceful rejections of calls to withdraw. But that question had been expected to be at the center of the Holt interview tonight. It slipped in importance behind images of a gunman narrowly missing Trump’s skull at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, nicking Trump’s ear before being killed by Secret Service sniper fire. One spectator was killed and two others critically injured.
The Republican National Committee opened its national nominating convention this week. Biden’s interview with Holt is a bit of political counter-programming in a moment when all eyes might be expected to be on Trump.
Biden addressed the public Sunday night to call for the temperature of political rhetoric to cool, and said as much again to Holt.
