Biden defends his rhetoric but concedes it was a mistake to make bullseye comment about Trump

Originally Published: 15 JUL 24 17:38 ET

Updated: 15 JUL 24 19:10 ET

By Betsy Klein, Michael Williams and Sam Fossum, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden defended himself against criticisms over his rhetoric, which has been put in the spotlight in the aftermath of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump – but said it was a mistake to say it was “time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

Biden made those comments during a call with donors on July 8, during which he said, “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” according to a summary of the call provided by his campaign.

“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Monday.

“I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told at the debate,” he said.

Biden sought to turn the conversation back to Trump’s own words: “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 he 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.”

The comments come a day after Biden used a rare Oval Office address to urge Americans to cool the political rhetoric on both sides of the aisle.

“The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that,” he said on Sunday night.

The White House and campaign have followed suit.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was repeatedly pressed Monday on recent comments from Biden prior to Saturday’s events, including saying in Detroit Friday that Trump would be president “over my dead body” and that “another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious.” She did not disavow the president’s language.

“What I would refer you to … is the last three days and what the president has said. You heard directly from him what he’s laid out, how he sees the future, how it’s important to be able to speak to different agendas. It is important to speak to someone’s record, someone’s character. Violence has no place in America. Political violence is not OK. It is not. It is just not,” she said.

Biden’s reelection campaign is also treading carefully around an extraordinarily delicate moment in American politics. The widely understood internal directive at the moment, as one senior adviser put it to CNN, is to be careful on all matters related to Trump “until further notice.”

That has put Biden’s past language under the microscope. Pressed by Holt on whether he has used inciting language, Biden suggested that it was necessary to characterize Trump as a “threat to democracy.”

“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 – because it may incite somebody?” he questioned.

He again turned the focus back on Trump’s own words, adding, “I am not engaged in that rhetoric. Now my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric: He talks about it’ll be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s going to forgive all the actions, 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 when remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer going – talking – joking about it?”

Asked by Holt about his conversation with Trump following Saturday’s assassination attempt, Biden said the call was “very cordial.”

“I told him how concerned I was and wanted to make sure I knew how he was actually doing,” Biden said.

Trump, he continued, “sounded good. He said he was fine. And he thanked me for calling him. I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me and his whole family was weathering this.”

Biden won’t speculate on future of 2024 race

The president declined to speculate on what the attempt on Trump’s life means for the trajectory of the 2024 campaign.

“I don’t know,” Biden said. But he suggested he was focused on Trump’s health and the safety of all candidates, including Sen. JD Vance, who Trump announced as his running mate Monday.

“I’ve thought less about the trajectory of the case than two things: One, what his health is, that he’s secure, number one. And number two, what happens from here on in terms of the kind of coverage that the president and vice president and former president and new vice president get,” the president said.

He went on to lament high tensions and heated political rhetoric, pointing to inflammatory signage he’s seen on the road as “a very different thing than saying I really disagree with Trump, the way he takes care of taxes.”

Biden said he wasn’t surprised that Vance was Trump’s choice as running mate.

“It’s not unusual. He’s going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him,” Biden said in the interview.

He also nodded toward some of Vance’s pointed criticisms about Trump before he ran for Senate: “Even though, if you go back and listen to some of the things JD Vance said about Trump,” Biden said, laughing as he trailed off.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

CNN’s MJ Lee contributed to this report

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