President Joe Biden, during part of an interview with NBC News on Monday, said he was “mistaked” in saying he wanted to put 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in the crosshairs. “I wanted people to pay attention to him, I wanted people to pay attention to what he’s doing, I wanted people to pay attention to his policies, I wanted people to pay attention to the number of lies that he told in the debates,” he said.
NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt asked, “So let’s talk about the debate this has sparked, which is about words, what we say out loud and the consequences that have. You were on a conference call a week ago, you called your opponent an existential threat and said it was time to target Trump. I disagree with the context, but I think you get it.”
Biden then interjected, saying: “I didn’t say targeted. I said focused. In fact, I think what I was saying at the time was that there was very little focus on Trump’s policies.”
Holt then said, “Yes, that word was bullseye.”
Biden responded: “I was wrong to use that word. I didn’t say crosshairs. I said bullseyes. Focused on him, focused on what he’s doing, focused on his policies, focused on the number of lies he told in the debates. There are different kinds of focuses. I’m not the guy who said on day one that he wants to be a dictator. I’m not the guy who refused to accept the results of the election. I’m not the guy who said I’m not going to automatically accept the results of the election. You can’t only love your country if you win. So the focus was on what he said. And the idea was…”
Holt then interjected to ask another question about rhetoric.
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