President Biden admitted it was a mistake to talk about putting Donald Trump “in a bull’s-eye” several days before the assassination attempt on the former president.
“It was a mistake to use the word … I meant focus on him: Focus on what he’s doing, focus on one on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told,” Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt during a sit-down interview at the White House set to air Monday evening.
“I mean, 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,” Biden argued. “I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election.”
“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,” Biden added, noting he also didn’t say “crosshairs.”
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Trump was hit as multiple shots were fired toward the stage from an elevated position near the outdoor venue where he was holding a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
The bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear before the former president was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents. Trump told the Post that had he not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigration, the bullet that grazed him would have been fatal.
Biden speaking on Sunday night had called for Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics” and “remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies: We’re neighbors, we’re friends, coworkers, citizens, and, most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must stand together.”
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But he struck a more defiant tone during his Monday interview, recalling some of Trump’s more strident remarks and insisting that Trump is engaging in rhetoric that could “incite somebody.”
“When a president says things like he says, do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?” Biden said.
“Look, I’ve – I have not engaged in that rhetoric,” he insisted. “Now, my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric: He talks about it’d be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s forgiven – 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.”
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“I’m not out there making fun of like, I remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer, go on talking about joking about it,” he added.
Biden also remained defiant about his position as the Democrat’s candidate, as his party continues trying to convince him to step down and let another candidate face Trump in November, citing concerns about his age and fitness to continue with a second term after a disastrous debate performance last month.
“14 million people voted for me to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, okay?” Biden said. “I listen to them.”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.