President Biden said Friday he was not sure next month’s election would be peaceful if former President Donald J. Trump lost his bid for another term in the White House.
In a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room — his first since taking office — Mr. Biden was asked if he had confidence the election would be free, fair and peaceful.
“I’m confident it will be free and fair,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “I don’t know whether it will be peaceful.”
“Things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Mr. Biden added, noting that during the vice-presidential debate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio “did not say he’d accept the outcome” of the coming election.
“So, I’m concerned about what they’re going to do,” he added.
Mr. Biden’s remarks underscore the concern inside the government about the possibility that there could be a repeat of the kind of violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after Mr. Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
The president declined to comment about any preparations that the administration is making to try to counter that kind of violence, saying only that he is briefed about threats to domestic security all the time.
In one sense, Mr. Biden’s acknowledgment that he is not certain the transfer of power will be peaceful is striking, given how often he describes himself as an optimistic person. But talking about the possibility of election violence on the part of Mr. Trump’s supporters also fits with the Democratic campaign-year strategy of warning about Mr. Trump and those loyal to him.
In her debate with Mr. Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris accused the former president of not supporting a peaceful transfer of power.
“Donald Trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a blood bath, if this — and the outcome of this election — is not to his liking. Let’s turn the page on this,” she said. “Let’s not go back. Let’s chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past.”
The post Biden Says the Election Will Be Fair. But He’s Not Sure It Will Be Peaceful. appeared first on New York Times.
