Biden admits saying ‘bullseye’ was a ‘mistake’ while discussing Trump agenda

President Joe Biden said it was a “mistake” to use the word “bullseye” during a campaign call urging supporters to focus on Donald Trump’s agenda, as the former president’s allies attempt to cast blame on Biden for the attempt on Trump’s life on Saturday.

Last week, Biden told supporters on a private call to shift focus away from his poor debate performance last month and “put Trump in a bullseye” instead.

“The truth of the matter was, and I guess [what] I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt on Monday.

On Saturday, a gunman struck Trump’s ear with a bullet at a campaign rally and killed a man in the crowd. There is currently no evidence that the 20-year-old gunman fired an AR-15-style rifle because he was influenced by Biden’s “bullseye” line, despite Holt’s questioning.

“It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say ‘crosshairs’. I said ‘bullseye.’ Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” Biden told Holt during an interview at the White House on Monday.

“Look, I’m not the guy who said I want to be a dictator on day one,” he added. “I’m not the guy who refused to accept the outcome of the election. I’m not the guy who said he won’t accept the outcome of this election automatically. You can’t only love your country when you win, and so the focus was on what he’s saying, and I mean, the idea—”

Holt interrupted the president to ask whether he has “done a little soul searching on things you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced.”

“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when the president says things like he says?