On Monday night, NBC aired an exclusive interview between Lester Holt and President Joe Biden. The president used the opportunity to comment on the assassination attempt against the former President Donald Trump and to double down on his commitment to stay in the presidential race.
Holt asked the president for his thoughts on Trump’s assassination attempt. Biden said, “I mean, the whole notion that there is this—there’s—there’s no place at all for violence in politics in America. None. Zero.”
He went on to discuss examples of “violent rhetoric” from the other side of the aisle, including the now-debunked statement from Trump about how there were “fine people on both sides” at the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
In response, Holt asked the president, “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?”
Biden denied ever using that kind of language: “I have not engaged in that rhetoric.”
Biden also remained steadfast in his decision to stay in the race, arguing that the upcoming election is a “toss-up.” He said, “The idea that we are in a situation where if you look at all the polling data, the polling data shows a lot of different things, but there’s no wide gap between us.”
He also revealed that he did not rewatch his performance in the June 27 presidential debate. Holt asked, “Are you seeing what they saw, which was moments of, frankly of, you appeared to be confused?”
Biden became noticeably defensive, leaning forward and laughing: “I didn’t have to see it. I was there. And by the way, seriously, you won’t answer the question, but why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he told…. God love you.”
He admitted, “I had a bad, bad night. I wasn’t feeling well at all. I screwed up.”
Holt also asked whether Biden would be willing to engage in another debate with Trump before the scheduled debate in September: “If the opportunity came up to do one between now and then? Is there—is there a sense of wanting to get back on the horse?”
“I’m on the horse; where have you been?” Biden shot back.
The interview ended awkwardly, with Biden saying, “Sometime, come and talk to me about what we should be talking about.”
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