President Joe Biden said Friday he was confident that the November election would be “free and fair” but expressed concerns that it may not be “peaceful.”
During a surprise appearance at the White House press briefing, a reporter asked Biden if he thought that the election would be free and fair and whether it would be peaceful. Biden answered: “I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful.
“The things that [former President Donald] Trump has said and the things that he said last time around when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” the president added.
NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Biden added that he’s “concerned about what they’re going to do,” pointing to remarks Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, made at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate where he dodged a question about whether Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, had asked Vance, “Did he [Trump] lose the 2020 election?”
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance answered.
In response, Walz called Vance’s comments “a damning non-answer.”
“I’m pretty shocked by this. He lost the election. This is not a debate, it’s not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump’s world,” Walz added.
Biden on Friday referred to the exchange, telling reporters: “I noticed the vice presidential Republican candidate did not say he’d accept the outcome of the election. They haven’t even accepted the outcome of the last election.”
On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a new brief in the federal election interference case against Trump, alleging that he worked in a personal capacity after the 2020 presidential election to get the results overturned.
Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” special counsel Jack Smith and his team argued in the filing.
Smith also pointed to some of Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol as evidence that he knew he had lost the election but was trying to stay in office anyway.
Trump slammed the filing in an interview with NewsNation later Wednesday, saying, “It’s nothing new in there, by the way, nothing new.”
At the vice presidential debate, Vance dismissed Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, saying that the then-president asked people to “peacefully” protest that day. He added that Trump “left the White House” on Jan. 20, saying that was evidence of a peaceful process.
Trump has long downplayed both his role in the Jan. 6 riot and the violence that took place that day, even saying at a June debate with Biden that he was simply “asked” to “make a speech.”
The House Jan. 6 committee concluded that “none of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”
The committee found that attendees were spurred by Trump’s tweet ahead of the Jan. 6 riot that the protest that day would “be wild” and that he watched what was happening at the Capitol for hours before tweeting out a call for his supporters to disperse and go home.
Trump has also praised the violent protestors who were later criminally charged for their conduct at the Capitol, repeatedly saying he’ll pardon them if he’s elected again. He has referred to them as “hostages,” “warriors” and “victims.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
