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NBC
President Biden says he regrets using the term “bullseye” to refer to Donald Trump — especially now that there’s been an assassination attempt on him … but there’s a catch.
POTUS sat down for an interview with Lester Holt, which is airing Monday — the first look of which was played on NBC … where the veteran news anchor peppered JB with questions about using that phrase during a donor call last Monday post-debate debacle.
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7/13/24
If you hadn’t heard, Joe was quoted as saying … “It’s time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye.” Of course, in the wake of Thomas Matthew Crooks trying to take a shot at DT … many have been critical of Biden saying that, suggesting it may have incited the young to action.
Welp … Joe says he regrets his language — noting he only meant it was time to put the focus on Trump as opposed to himself, but even so … he says he’s sorry and notes he probably should’ve used different terminology.
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7/13/24
TMZ.com
In the same breath … Joe also did a bit of whataboutism as Lester grilled him on his rhetoric — wondering whether using over-the-top language to describe Trump and a potential second term as potentially incendiary and spurring some to take action into their own hands.
Joe defended himself and said that he’s accurately trying to describe what he considers a true threat to democracy … and noted that Trump’s language/rhetoric is far worse than his.
Biden asks the rhetorical question — what do you do when someone poses a serious threat to this country … not talk about it honestly because it might potentially incite somebody???
It’s a tough topic obviously … and you can tell Joe’s trying to walk a fine line here. You can also sense Biden is trying to turn down the temperature on all this — but still needing to apply pressure since he’s in a tight race with DT … one that some suggest might be over now.
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CNN
He’s already condemned the violence … but the magnifying glass remains on Joe and co. as this whole thing gets investigated. FWIW, Joe’s dedicated more Secret Service protection to Trump … and is trying to get to the bottom of how the security lapse unfolded at all.