Joe Biden was questioned about his use of the word bullseye (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Joe Biden has admitted it was a "mistake" to say he wanted to put a "bullseye" on Donald Trump.
The president, 81, came under fresh criticism in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday.
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Biden told donors on a phone call last week: "I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump. 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."
Prominent Republicans say comments like this led to the deranged gunman's attempt on Trump's life. Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw wrote on X: "The assassination attempt didn’t happen in a vacuum. Demonizing Trump and Republicans, calling for their targeting, led to this."
Biden has now addressed the comments in an NBC News interview. He argued that while "it was a mistake to use the word", he wanted the "focus" to be on "what he's saying".
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The president told anchor Lester Holt: "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?"
Biden said that he is not the one who engages in "that rhetoric", referring to Trump's past comments about a "bloodbath" if the Republican loses to Biden in November.
Biden's interview comes a day after he made a rare Oval Office address in which he called on Americans to "lower the temperature" of political debate.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, who also said it's time to "turn the temperature down in this country", had criticized Biden's "bullseye" comment. He said "that kind of language on either side should be called out".
Nick Beauchamp, an associate professor of political science at Boston's Northeastern University, said there is an opportunity now for political leaders to "start framing their critiques of the others in words that explicitly denounce violence".
From the 1968 killings of American leaders Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the 1981 attack on President Ronald Reagan, to shootings of Republicans and Democrats in the past decade, the violent strain has been a tragic part of American politics.
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