CONCORD, N.H. – With two weeks to go until Election Day, President Biden appeared to spark a political controversy on Tuesday as he called for his predecessor to be “politically” locked up during a political event in New Hampshire’s capital city.
The president was in Concord for an official event to highlight his administration’s efforts to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices. Minutes later, speaking at a political gathering at the New Hampshire Democratic Party headquarters, Biden argued that GOP nominee former President Trump wants to eliminate his political adversaries and detractors.
“He thinks he has a version of the Supreme Court ruling on immunity to be able to, if need be, if it was the case, to actually eliminate, physically eliminate, shoot, kill someone who is, he believes to be a threat to him,” Biden told his supporters.
The president then added, “I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up. We got to lock him up. Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
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President Biden speaks at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s headquarters, in Concord, N.H. on Oct. 22, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
During his tenure in the White House, Biden has tried to keep his distance from the Justice Department and its multiple investigations into the former president. And Biden has repeatedly insisted that his administration has not let political motivations influence its decisions regarding those investigations into Trump.
But the comments on Tuesday from Biden – even though he quickly corrected himself – come as Vice President Kamala Harris – who three months ago replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket – has tried to stop supporters at her rallies from chanting “lock him up” in reference to Trump.
“Lock her up” was a regular chant by Trump supporters during the former president’s 2016 campaign, as he criticized Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as being corrupt.
And as he runs to win back the White House, Trump has repeatedly charged that the Justice Department investigations against him are politically motivated.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Trump’s campaign on Tuesday quickly posted video of Biden’s comments to its social media accounts.
And Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a statement that “Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square. The Harris-Biden Admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.”
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There was no official White House reaction, but aides noted the context, that the president quickly corrected himself as he spoke by adding “politically lock him up.”
Fox News has reached out to the Harris campaign for reaction, but didn’t receive a response at the time this story was published.
Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris walks out with former US representative Liz Cheney during a rally at Ripon College on October 3, 2024 in Ripon, Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Both Biden and Harris have warned voters that Trump poses a threat to democracy. And the president has also charged that Trump-supporting Republicans have anti-democratic attitudes.
“We’re dealing with a totally different breed of cat now,” he said. “That was— the civil rights era was terrible. But we got a group now that is just literally, and I’m not one that is prone to hyperbole, but we have a a group running the MAGA Republicans who are have an anti-democratic attitude toward the way the Constitution functions,” Biden reiterated on Tuesday.
But.Trump’s supporters have blamed rhetoric from some Democrats for the two failed assassination attempts this year on the former president’s life.