Biden says in his prime-time speech that the US must not take the path of political violence

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden urged Americans on Sunday to reject political violence and recommit to a peaceful resolution of their differences. He said the upcoming presidential election will be a “time of probation” in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

In a prime-time national address from the Oval Office, Biden said political passions may run high, but “we must never descend into violence.” The president said his party and Republicans can compete vigorously on different policy visions – but it must be done in a civilized manner.

“We all face a testing time now as the election approaches,” Biden said. “There is no place for this kind of violence in America – for violence of any kind. Ever. Period. No exceptions. We cannot allow this violence to be normalized.”

Biden spoke for six minutes in his third address to the nation since the attack Saturday night by a gunman who left Trump with a bloody ear, killed one rally attendee and seriously wounded two others. His warning came hours after FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said agents had observed increasingly violent rhetoric online since the attack at the Trump rally.

Since the shooting, the president and his team had been grappling with how to continue the political path after the weekend attack, which targeted precisely the person Biden wanted to Elections in NovemberBiden strongly condemned the attack, but indicated that he wanted to continue to push his campaign agenda and had “no doubt” that Republicans would do the same if they Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.

He stressed that these differences of opinion must remain peaceful.

“We can do this,” Biden pleaded, saying the nation was founded on a democracy that gives reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. Biden also warned that political tensions are being fueled by a balkanized media landscape and exploited by America’s enemies.

“Here in America, we must move beyond our silos, where we only listen to those we agree with, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors add fuel to the fire of our divisions to achieve outcomes that suit their interests, not ours,” Biden said.

Earlier on Sunday, Biden had briefed the White House Situation Room and confirmed the assassination attempt on Trump card as “contrary to everything we stand for as a nation.” He said he would order an independent security review to determine how such an attack could have happened.

The president said he had also directed the U.S. Secret Service to review all security measures for the RNC. Hours later, Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Congressional Intelligence Coordinator, said the attack on Trump over the weekend did not warrant changes to the Secret Service’s security plan for the event and that officials were “fully prepared.”

Biden promised a “thorough and swift” investigation and urged the public not to make “assumptions” about the shooter’s motives or connections.

The President said he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for the family of Corey Comparatore – Translationa former fire chief who was shot and killed during the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

“He protected his family from the bullets,” Biden said. “God bless him.”

The president also said he had a “brief but good conversation” with Trump in the hours after the shootings and said he was “sincerely grateful” that the former president was “doing well and recovering.”

Trump, who has called for national resilience since the shooting, posted on his social media account after Biden’s comments: “UNITE AMERICA!”

Biden, who sees Trump as serious threat to democracy and the nation’s founding principles took a temporary pause on such political messaging after the shooting. Shortly after the attack Saturday night, Biden’s re-election campaign froze “all outgoing communications” and worked to pull its television ads.

The president also postponed a trip to Texas planned for Monday, where he was to speak at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. An NBC News interview between Biden and moderator Lester Holt will now take place at the White House rather than in Texas as originally planned.

Biden’s campaign said the Democratic National Committee would “continue to draw contrast with Trump” during the Republican National Convention after the NBC interview airs Monday night. It was unclear when campaign advertising would resume.

Biden is still planning a planned trip to Las Vegas, which will include a campaign rally on Wednesday. Vice President Kamala Harris postponed her campaign trip to Florida, where she was to meet with Republican women, planned for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Trump arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday evening for the Republican Party Convention, where Biden and the Democrats are sure to face harsh criticism.

The developments over the weekend were just the latest shock in a Election campaign, which has been extraordinarily turbulent in recent weeks.

Biden’s shaky debate performance on June 27, his own party was so frightened that some of the most important representatives and donors turned against him, and almost 20 Democratic members of Congress urged the president to give up the race altogether. With doubts mounting about his suitability for a second term, Biden and his top advisers are trying to save his campaign by Add events across the country and are criticizing Trump more aggressively.

Saturday’s attack scuttled that counteroffensive, at least temporarily. The campaign hoped that Biden’s Oval Office speech on Sunday would further clarify his position on unity while demonstrating leadership that could appease nervous critics within his own party.

“We will debate and disagree, that will not change,” Biden said in his afternoon remarks. “But we will not lose sight of who we are as Americans.”

Biden linked Saturday’s shooting to other incidents of political violence, from the death of a counter-protester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 to the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by Trump supporters seeking to prevent the certification of the Electoral College vote count.

Although investigators are still in the early stages of investigating what happened and why, some Biden critics accused the president of telling donors in a private phone call on Monday that it was “time to target Trump.”

A person familiar with the comments said the president was trying to point out that Trump has gotten away with a light public schedule after last month’s debate, while the president himself is under intense scrutiny. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely about private conversations.

In the conference call with donors, Biden said: “I have one job, and that is to defeat Donald Trump. … I am absolutely certain that I am the best person to do it.”

He continued: “So, we’re not talking about the debate anymore. It’s time to take aim at Trump. He’s gotten away with doing nothing for the last 10 days except driving around in his golf cart and bragging about results he didn’t get. … Anyway, I’m not going to comment on his golf game.”