President Biden sat down for an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt on Monday in the aftermath of the shooting at a rally held by former President Trump that has shaken up the 2024 race for the White House.
The president was pressed on his own rhetoric as he also called for Americans to cool down the temperature this campaign season. He was also questioned about his debate performance and the subsequent calls among Democrats for him to step aside.
NBC aired the whole roughly 18-minute interview with Biden, which took place at the White House on Monday afternoon during an action-packed first day of the Republican National Convention.
Here are five notable moments from the interview.
Biden, Trump had ‘cordial’ conservation
Biden described his conversation with Trump after the shooting as “cordial” and said it was largely about the president’s concern for his political rival after a bullet grazed his ear while speaking at the Pennsylvania rally.
“Very cordial. I told him how concerned I was and wanted to make sure I knew how he was actually doing. He sounded good, he said he was fine and he thanked me for calling,” Biden said. “I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me, and I hope his whole family was weathering this.”
Biden and Trump’s phone call took place on Saturday night, just hours after the shooting. Biden told reporters earlier that night that he had tried to get a hold of Trump and hoped to speak with him. Since they spoke, first lady Jill Biden and former first lady Melania Trump also spoke on the phone.
The president was attending church in Rehoboth, Del., at the time of the shooting. Holt asked him for his first reaction to the news of the incident and he responded, “My first reaction was, ‘my God. This is.’ Look, there’s so much violence now.”
Biden pushes back on Holt’s questions
Biden at times sparred with Holt over his line of questioning, appearing frustrated and pressing the NBC News anchor on media coverage, particularly in the aftermath of the debate.
At one point Holt asked Biden if he would consider debating Trump again before the next scheduled debate on Sept. 10.
“…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? Holt asked Biden toward the end of the interview, referring to doing another debate before September.
“I’m on the horse. Where have you been?” Biden pushed back. “I’ve done 22 major events, met thousands of people, overwhelming crowds. A lot’s happening. I’m on the horse.”
During another part of the conversation in which Holt referred to remarks made by Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) about Biden, the president suggested that Holt was skimming over remarks Vance, a former Trump critic, had also made about the former president before becoming his 2024 running mate.
“[Vance] says some things about me, but see what he said about Trump,” Biden said. “What’s with you guys? Come on, man.”
It was perhaps one of Biden most notable push backs on the media in an interview with a news outlet, already coming at a sensitive time in his presidency as he’s faced calls within his party to step down. He remained assertive during the interview, despite it producing some awkward moments.
“Sometimes come and talk to me about what we should be talking about,” Biden challenged Holt at the end of the conversation.
Suggests ‘bullseye’ remark was a ‘mistake’
Biden suggested that it may have been a mistake to use the word “bullseye” while talking about Trump on a call with donors last week when Holt asked about the renewed attention around those remarks in the aftermath of the shooting.
“It was, it was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t mean— I didn’t say cross-hairs. I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on, on his… policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate” Biden said.
On a call with donors last week, amid pressure from Democrats for him to drop out of the race, Biden said, “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”
The president also pushed back when Holt asked if he’s taken a step back and done any soul-searching on things he has said that could incite people who are not “balanced.”
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden said. “Do you just not say anything because it might incite somebody? I have not engaged in that rhetoric.”
Trump’s legal woes come up
During the interview, the president said he was “not surprised” by Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision earlier in the day to dismiss Trump’s case regarding his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
His answer quickly pivoted to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, in which Judge Clarence Thomas questioned the legality of the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith. Cannon dismissed Trump’s case by ruling that Smith had been appointed unlawfully.
“It comes from the immunity decision the Supreme Court… and [Justice] Clarence Thomas, in his dissent, said that independent prosecutors appointed by the attorney general aren’t legit. That’s the basis on which this judge moved to dismiss,” Biden said.
Thomas wrote as part of his concurrence: “I write separately to highlight another way in which this prosecution may violate our constitutional structure. In this case, the Attorney General purported to appoint a private citizen as Special Counsel to prosecute a former President on behalf of the United States.”
Biden also brought up his own investigation involving classified documents that turned up at his home and an old office he used after he left the vice presidency.
“I had an independent prosecutor look at me. They spent months on my– going through and I was totally cooperative. In and out of my house,” he explained.
“There were, like, 10, 12 agents in my house for nine hours unaccompanied going through every single thing I had. That’s appropriate. And they looked at me and concluded I didn’t do a damn thing wrong.”
Biden shares thoughts on Vance
Biden’s interview with NBC took place just hours after Trump announced that Vance would be his vice presidential pick on day one of the Republican National Convention.
Vance in the past heavily criticized Trump describing him as a “cynical asshole” and “America’s Hitler.” Vance has since become a close Trump ally. Biden said he was not shocked by Vance as Trump’s pick.
“Well, it’s not unusual. He’s going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him. Have a voting record, that support him. Even though if you go back and listen to the things JD Vance said about Trump,” Biden said, laughing.
The president said that Vance believes in no exceptions on abortion, supports Trump’s plan for tax cuts, and doesn’t believe in climate change. The senator said in 2021 that “two wrongs don’t make a right” when asked whether abortion laws should allow for exceptions for rape and incest and he has minimized the threat of climate change, saying in 2022 that the U.S. doens’t need to “destory the economy to deal with” it.
