In a new interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, President Joe Biden had some pointed words for media critics who hyperfocused on his debate performance at the expense of holding Donald Trump accountable for lies he’s told.
After Holt opened the interview by asking whether the president called Trump after the assassination attempt on his life (Biden called Trump and expressed prayers for his family), the veteran journalist pressed Biden on whether he played a role in inciting violence against Trump.
“Have you taken a step back and done a little soul-searching on things that you may have said that could incite — people who are not balanced?” Holt asked Biden after noting that Biden used the word “bullseye” in a recent call with donors about Trump.
“What I guess I was talking about at the time was there was very little focus on Trump’s — agenda,” Biden responded. “It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t mean … I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on — on his — on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate.”
Biden remained defiant in calling out Trump as a regular inciter of violent rhetoric.
“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 that [I] wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically,” he maintained. “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 continued to lay out Trump’s documented history of violent rhetoric and indifference to violence, including his comments in the wake of a Charlottesville protester being killed by a white supremacist and jokes about Nancy Pelosi’s husband after an attempt on his life.
“Remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with the hammer … joking about it,” Biden told Holt.
However, it was toward the end of the interview when Holt pressed Biden about his poor debate performance that seemed to strike a nerve with the president.
“Lester, look, why don’t you guys ever talk about … the 28 lies he told? Where are you on this? Why doesn’t the press ever talk about that? Twenty-eight times, it’s confirmed. He lied in that debate,” Biden fired back. Amid the back-and-forth exchange, the president admitted he had a “bad, bad night.”
“I wasn’t feeling well at all. And — and I had been — without making — I screwed up … but why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he told?” Biden argued.
During the primetime interview, Biden also insisted that polls show a neck-and-neck race between him and Trump. While national polls show Biden and Trump within points of each other, polls focused on key swing states like Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina show Trump in the lead.
President Biden also confirmed he has no intention of dropping out of the race, despite reports that some Democrats are encouraging him to do so.
Read and watch the full transcript of the exclusive sit-down interview on NBCNews.com.
