US President Joe Biden has said it was a mistake for him to say “time to put Trump in a bullseye”, days before Saturday’s assassination attempt on his election rival.
Mr Biden’s remarks came in his first interview since the incident, in which he defended his rhetoric against Donald Trump and cited why it was important.
The president told NBC’s Lester Holt his campaign had a duty to clearly communicate the threat of a second Trump term, adding that his words were not the ones that needed to be tempered.
After a brief pause following Saturday’s attack, presidential campaign events now appear to be back under way.
Mr Biden is set to speak at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Trump made his first appearance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, to a rapturous welcome.
During his NBC interview, Mr Biden described a phone call with Trump following the attempted assassination as “very cordial”.
When pressed on his “bullseye” comments, Mr Biden said: “It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing.”
He said he meant Democrats needed to look at Trump, his policies and the false statements he made during the presidential debate late last month.
Throughout the interview, Mr Biden made it clear he would not be stepping aside in the presidential race – despite calls from members of his own party after his poor debate performance.
He said he put his faith in the voters who overwhelmingly backed him in the Democratic primary. “I listen to them.”
The president has repeatedly called for Americans to “lower the temperature” since the shooting on Saturday, where Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet.
One crowd member was killed and two others were critically injured in the attack.
About a dozen Republicans have blamed Mr Biden and other Democrats for inciting the attempt on Trump’s life. Many have specifically cited Mr Biden’s “bullseye” comment.
JD Vance, who was announced as Trump’s presidential running mate on Monday, said in the wake of the shooting that Democratic rhetoric about the Republican candidate “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination”.
According to Politico, Mr Biden had said on a private donor call: “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
President Biden, in an Oval Office address on Sunday, denounced the attack and called for Americans to “take a step back”, warning that “political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated”.
When asked in the NBC interview if he had also taken a step back to examine his past remarks for anything “that could incite people who are not balanced”, Mr Biden said the inflammatory rhetoric had not come from him.
The FBI has identified the gunman who targeted Trump as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, a kitchen worker from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who is a registered Republican.
A Secret Service sniper shot Crooks dead after he fired at the former president.
