In his first interview since exiting the 2024 presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden told CBS on Wednesday that he is “not confident at all” about a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025 if former President Donald Trump loses.
“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all. He means what he says, we don’t take him seriously, he means it – all the stuff about if we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath, it will have to be a stolen election,” Biden told CBS News’ chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa in an interview set to air on CBS Sunday Morning on Aug. 11.
Biden also warned that Trump is preparing to challenge the November election results, just as he did in 2020, by installing sympathetic local election officials.
“Look at what they are trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes, electing or putting people in place that are going to count the votes, right?” said Biden, reiterating his common phrase, “You can’t love your country only when you win.”
In the interview, Costa expressed concern about what might happen if Trump is defeated, saying he’s “bracing” for January as “this country is not just going to have a kind of merry walk toward January 2025.”
At a March campaign rally in Ohio, Trump warned that losing the 2024 election would lead to a “bloodbath” for the U.S. auto industry and the country – comments Biden and his campaign quickly condemned, claiming Trump was inciting political violence.
During the June debate, when asked if he would accept the outcome of November’s election, Trump said he would if it were “a fair and legal and good election,” adding that there is “nothing [he’d] rather do.”
In response, Biden said, “I tell you what, I doubt you’ll accept it because you’re such a whiner…You can’t stand the loss, something snapped in you when you lost the last time.”
Biden has consistently warned that Trump is unlikely to concede if he loses, making the defense of democracy a key focus of his 2024 presidential campaign.
Last month, in remarks from the Oval Office, Biden explained his decision to end his presidential bid by contrasting Trump’s refusal to accept election results with his own choice to step aside as the Democratic nominee.
“Look, 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. I’m not the guy who said that he wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically,” Biden said.
Since then, the president has largely stayed out of the spotlight with a limited public schedule, allowing Harris to take much of the media coverage.
As of now, Harris has not done a sit-down interview since entering the presidential race, nor has her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, since he was elected.
However, it is expected that one will occur before the Democratic National Convention, starting Aug. 19 in Chicago, as is typical for presidential tickets.
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Publish date : 2024-08-08 17:48:00
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