Transcript: Read the full Biden interview with Lester Holt on NBC News
President Joe Biden sat down for an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt.
LESTER HOLT: Mr. President, thank you for sitting down with us. There’s a lot to talk about. I’d like to start with the horrible events of last weekend that has shocked a lot of Americans. At a political rally your opponent, Donald Trump — shot — in the middle of greeting his — his supporters. You spoke to Mr. Trump afterward. Can you give me — a sense of that conversation?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Very cordial. I told him how concerned I was, and want to make sure I knew how he was actually doing. He sounded good. He said he was fine and he thanked me for calling him. I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me, and I hope his whole family was weathering this.
LESTER HOLT: You were in — in Delaware when this happened. What was your first reaction?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: My first reaction was, “My God. This is” — look, there’s so much violence now and the way we talk about it. I mean, the whole notion that there is this — there’s — there’s no place at all for violence in politics in America. None. Zero. And — we’ve reached a point where it’s — it’s become too commonplace, not assassinations, but to talk about it.
For example, you know, the January 6th — you know, the attack on the Capitol, the — I — I — Lester, I got in this race early on in 2020 — for the 2020 race. I wasn’t gonna run again because I’d lost my son. I didn’t — you know? And — until I watched what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Rating: 5