Joe Biden has admitted he made a mistake when he told supporters to put his rival Donald Trump in a “bullseye” - as he renewed criticism of Mr Trump’s own rhetoric.
US presidential hopeful Mr Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday in a suspected assassination attempt by a 20-year old gunman, as he delivered a speech during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Mr Biden quickly condemned the shooting, and in a prime-time television address on Sunday urged Americans to “cool it down” as he warned politics must not be “a killing field” and said differences should be resolved “at the ballot box”.
On Monday, Mr Biden said he had made a mistake when he told supporters to put Mr Trump in a “bullseye”, but said Trump regularly employed rhetoric that was inflammatory and lied repeatedly at their debate last month.
As he renewed his criticism of Mr Trump’s actions, he cited the Republican candidate’s role on January 6, 2021, when his supporters attacked the US Capitol.
"It was a mistake to use the word," Mr Biden said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, referring to the "bullseye" comment.
“I meant focus on it, focus on what he's doing...focus on the number of lies he told in the debate."
On July 8, Mr Biden, 81, spoke to some of his biggest donors and said they needed to shift the election campaign's focus from him and his poor debate performance to Mr Trump.
"I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump...We’re done talking about the debate. It's time to put Trump in the bullseye," he said.
Some Republicans have honed in on that comment as they blamed Biden for creating a climate that sparked the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Mr Biden has repeatedly decried political violence.
The president has faced more than two weeks of questions about his political future, so far facing down calls to step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the debate sparked a crisis within his party.
The president has sought to turn attention to his opponent, highlighting Mr Trump's falsehoods, his refusal to accept the 2020 election results and his role in the January 6, 2021, attack.
Mr Biden turned back to those themes repeatedly during the NBC interview.
"I'm not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one. I'm not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election," Mr Biden said.
He cited the former president's comments about a bloodbath ensuing if he loses the 2024 election and making fun when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was attacked by an intruder with a hammer at their home.
"How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?" Mr Biden said. "I have not engaged in that rhetoric. Now...my opponent's engaged in that rhetoric."
The president reiterated in the interview that he is not leaving the race, while acknowledging that people's questions about his age were legitimate.
On Monday, Mr Trump was given a hero’s welcome from his supporters as he appeared at the Republican National Convention with a bandage over his right ear, two days after surviving Saturday’s shooting.
