United States President Joe Biden says he was not confident the U.S. election in November would be peaceful.
Biden said this on Friday, October 4, 2024, citing incendiary comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who still rejects his 2020 defeat.
Biden’s warning came with lawmakers and analysts voicing concern over increasingly bellicose campaign language ahead of the vote.
Trump – who survived an assassination bid in July and another apparent plot in September – alleged widespread fraud after his defeat to Biden, and pro-Trump rioters riled up by his false claims ransacked the U.S. Capitol.
Biden told reporters: “I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful.
“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous.”
Trump was impeached in 2021 for inciting the insurrection after hundreds of his supporters – exhorted by the defeated Republican to “fight like hell” – battered police as they smashed windows at the Capitol and broke through doors.
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He has been indicted over what prosecutors allege was a “private criminal effort” to subvert the election that culminated in the violence.
Trump – who is due to return to the venue of his first assassination bid in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday – has long been assailed over his violent rhetoric.
Biden made his comments during what was the first appearance of his presidency in the White House briefing room, where he touted his administration’s achievements as his vice president, Kamala Harris, battles Trump.
Harris and Trump meanwhile were barnstorming the battleground states that are likely to decide who wins the White House.
Trump campaigned on Friday in North Carolina, where he reprised his claims of 2020 voter fraud.
“We should get elected, but remember this, they cheat like hell,” he said.
He also visited neighbouring Georgia, a swing state narrowly claimed by Biden four years ago but won by Trump in 2016 – and one of the biggest prizes of the 2024 election map.
The Republican inserted himself aggressively into Georgia politics after his 2020 defeat, pushing for state officials to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory.
Trump, 78, was charged by state prosecutors with racketeering, in a case that is on pause and expected to start up again after the election. He denied wrongdoing.
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