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President Joe Biden said it was a “mistake” to use the word “bullseye” during a campaign call urging supporters to focus on Donald Trump’s agenda, as the former president’s allies attempt to cast blame on Biden’s statements for the attempt on Trump’s life.
“The truth of the matter was, and I guess I was talking about at the time was there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt on Monday.
Last week, before a gunman fired into a crowd and struck Trump’s ear at a campaign rally, Biden told supporters on a private call to shift focus away from his poor debate performance last month and “put Trump in a bullseye” instead.
“It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say ‘crosshairs’. I said ‘bullseye.’ Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” Biden told Holt during an interview at the White House on Monday.
“I mean there’s a whole range of things— look, I’m not the guy who said I want to be a dictator on day one,” he added. “I’m not the guy who 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, and I mean, the idea—”
Holt interrupted the president to ask whether he has “done a little soul searching on things you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced.”
“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?” Biden replied.
The full interview with Holt is scheduled to air on NBC at 9pm ET.
Critical objections to Trump’s platform were previously waved away by his supporters as alarmist or fear-mongering, but his allies now appear to be blaming those statements for Saturday’s assassination attempt.
There is no evidence that a 20-year-old gunman fired an AR-15-style rifle because they were compelled by Biden’s statements or statements from other Democrats and media figures who have warned against a second Trump term.
Trump’s allies also have repeatedly dismissed warnings from law enforcement officials that Trump’s rhetoric has fuelled credible threats of violence, and that Trump-allied far-right extremism poses a threat to national security.
“I am not engaged in that rhetoric,” Biden said on Monday. “Now, my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric. He talks about there being a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses, talks about how he’s going to forgive … suspend the sentences of all those who were arrested and sentenced to go to jail because of what had happened at the Capitol.”
During a call with donors last week, Biden said he is “dont talking about the debate” after his disastrous performance against Trump on June 27 prompted prominent Democrats to call for him to publicly end his re-election campaign. Biden has insisted he is staying in the race.
“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,” Biden said on the private call, according to Politico.
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump,” he added. “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.”