President Biden defended saying it is ‘time to put Trump in the bullseye’ just days after the assassination attempt on the former President and attempted to explain what he meant amid calls for politicians to tone down the rhetoric.
Biden sat down with NBC Nightly News’ anchor Lester Holt for an exclusive interview where he was asked about his words before the shooting.
‘You said it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye. There’s some dispute of the context, but you appreciate that words matter,’ Holt said.
‘I didn’t say crosshairs,’ Biden responded. ‘I was talking about focus on.’
‘Look the truth of the matter was, what I guess I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda,’ Biden continued.
When Holt pointed out that the term was bullseye, not crosshairs, Biden said ‘it was a mistake to use the word — I didn’t say crosshairs, I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him.’
Biden said what he meant was ‘focus on what he’s doing, focus on his policies.’
The president then went after Trump including the ‘lies he told in the debate’ and said there’s a whole range of things.