Former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield on Monday corrected herself and apologized after saying Democrats must choose “to try to win this election and turn their fire on Donald Trump.”
President Joe Biden called for America to “lower the temperature in our politics” following the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, but he became defensive when pressed by NBC News host Lester Holt about rhetoric that may incite violence. Bedingfield, who was White House communications director under Biden, said she “shouldn’t have” used the expression “turn their fire,” changing it to “turn their focus.”
Former Biden Official Corrects Herself After Saying Dems Must ‘Turn Their Fire On Donald Trump’ To Beat Him pic.twitter.com/QWLgfB4SIH
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“He has said many, many times, after having been questioned many times about this, that he’s not stepping down, and he’s going to be the nominee,” Bedingfield said. “So at some point, Democrats have to decide that they want to try to win this election and turn their fire on Donald Trump. I think there is — I shouldn’t have said ‘turn their fire.’ I apologize. That was not the phrase that I meant. They need to turn their focus on Donald Trump.”
Biden told donors during a private call on July 8 his “one job” is to “beat Donald Trump,” saying “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” Politico reported.
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“Let’s talk about the conversation this has started, and it’s really about language, what we say out loud and the consequences of those,” Holt said. “You called your opponent an ‘existential threat’ on a call a week ago. You said, ‘It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.’ There’s some dispute about the context, but I think you appreciate –”
”I didn’t say crosshairs,” Biden responded. “I was talking about focus on. Look, the truth of the matter was, what I guess I was talking about at the time was, there’s very little focus on Trump’s agenda.”
Biden called it “a mistake” that he said “bullseye.”
“I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye. I meant focus on him,” he added.
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