In an unedited interview that ran in its entirety, a defiant President Joe Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt that it was a mistake when he recently said that he wanted to put former President Donald Trump back in “a bullseye,” yet did not cave on his criticism of Trump’s mean and often violent rhetoric.
Last week, before a comeback performance at a Detroit rally, Biden said to donors, “We’re done talking about the debate; it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.” Republicans are now accusing the president of stoking violence against his rival following gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempt to kill Trump, who was shot in the ear at a rally on Saturday.
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden asked Holt, then referring to Trump’s reaction while in the White House to the deadly alt-right Unite the Right incident in Charlottesville in 2017. “Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?”
Biden also spoke about his phone call with Trump following Saturday’s shooting. “He sounded good, and he said he was fine,” Biden said about the cordial conversation. “He was in the prayers of Jill and me. My first reaction was, my god, there’s so much violence now. There’s no place at all for violence in politics in America.”
The interview aired on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Biden, who seemed to lose his train of thought slightly in moments, shared his perspective on some of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions, including what he called a “terrible decision” on presidential immunity as well as a judge’s decision on Monday to toss out the case against Trump regarding classified documents removed from the White House at the end of his presidency.
Biden began to grow testy with Holt as the anchor’s line of questioning remained critical of the president’s performance at the first debate on June 27 and the ongoing discourse over him remaining in the race.
“We are in a situation where — if you look at all the polling data [it] shows a lot of different things, but there’s no wide gap between us,” Biden insisted of him and Trump. “It’s essentially a toss up race.”
It was when his debate performance came up that Biden, who likely has grown tired of hearing about his dismal showing in Atlanta three weeks ago, took off the gloves.
“Lester, who don’t you guys ever talk about the 28 lies [Trump] told that night,” Biden said with dead-on stare. “Why didn’t the press talk about that? 28 times, confirmed, he lied in that debate. I had a bad, bad night. I wasn’t feeling well, at all well…I screwed up.”
Holt, who had asked if Biden had seen his performance, then pressed him again, saying that he wanted to know if Biden had seen what his critics saw on their TV screens at the debate.
“I was there!” he cackled. “I don’t need to see it, I was there.”
Biden also swung at Trump’s vice presidential pick, junior Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, pointing out some negative things the new addition to the GOP ticket has said about Trump before he pivoted to supporting the GOP’s de facto leader to gain his blessing during his Congressional bid.
“[Trump is going to] surround himself with people who agree completely with him, have a voting record that supports him. Even though if you go back and look at some of the things that J.D Vance said about Trump,” Biden said. “J.D. Vance has — has adopted the same policies. No exceptions on abortion, making sure that he supports — a new $5 trillion tax cut that Trump wants to give in the next administration, signing on to the whole notion of whether or not we’re gonna — there’s — he says there’s no climate change that’s happening. I mean, he signed on to the — to the Trump agenda.”
Holt closed by asking Biden if he would agree to a third debate being added to the election cycle, with one in the next few weeks in addition to the September debate that’s on the books. In his questioning, Holt used in idiom, saying it would be an opportunity for Biden to “get back on the horse.”
“I’m on the horse,” the president replied. “Where have you been? I’ve done 22 major events, met thousands of people, overwhelming crowds. A lot’s happening. I’m on the horse. What I’m doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don’t need — notes.”