President Joe Biden on Tuesday echoed language former President Donald Trump has used in the past, saying of the former president that “we gotta lock him up.”
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Biden said Trump’s policies are so “bizarre” and dangerous that if he’d warned about them five years ago “you’d lock me up.”
“We gotta lock him up,” Biden said to applause from the small crowd before he appeared to catch himself and added, “politically lock him up.”
“Lock him out,” Biden continued. “That’s what we have to do.”
A White House official later said that Biden’s two immediate clarifications — specifying “politically” locking up Trump and locking him “out” — are how the president’s comments should be interpreted. Biden was speaking to how voters should think about the stakes of the election, the official added.
The Trump campaign responded Tuesday night by challenging Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn Biden’s remark.
“Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“The Harris-Biden Admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark,” she added.
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, also criticized the remarks on X.
“President Trump is the only candidate who was shot in the head in a failed assassination attempt,” Cheung said, referring to the July 13 shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“What a piece of s— Biden is,” Cheung added.
Both Biden and Harris have condemned political violence in the wake of a pair of attempts to assassinate Trump.
Biden’s comments sparked backlash from other Trump allies.
Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said on X: “This is the ‘tell’ as to why the Democrat machine has been feverishly working to imprison Trump. It’s all been intentional.”
Biden’s remarks introduce a distraction for the Harris campaign at a critical phase in a razor-close race, and they come when she is already making the calculated decision not to appear with him on the trail before Election Day.
At her rallies, Harris has typically shut down “lock him up” chants directed at Trump, saying the courts would handle that.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a New York state case. His sentencing is scheduled for next month after the election. Federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith have charged Trump in two separate cases; Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in each case.
Chants of “lock her up” aimed at 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton became popular with Trump supporters during that election, with Trump sometimes standing by as the crowds chanted and other times agreeing “they should lock her up.”
Chants of “lock him up” were returned by a crowd at the Democratic National Convention in August this year as Clinton spoke in support of Harris.
Trump, meanwhile, has not shied away from threatening to prosecute his political opponents.
In August, he reposted manipulated images of Biden, Harris and other political opponents dressed in orange prison uniforms with the caption: “HOW TO ACTUALLY ‘FIX THE SYSTEM.’”
Trump also referred to Democrats and those who have investigated him as “the enemy from within,” claiming in an interview that aired this month that they pose a threat that’s greater than China, Russia and other countries.
He has regularly painted Harris and Clinton as criminals. Trump referred to Harris as a “criminal” at a campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado, this month.
Biden’s comments on Tuesday came during his second stop of the day, during a visit to the headquarters of the New Hampshire Democratic Party to boost the party’s candidates in both the open gubernatorial and congressional race. There, and at an earlier stop in Concord, Biden spoke in dire terms about what was at stake in the presidential contest.
“I’m not one that is prone to hyperbole, but we have a group running — the MAGA Republicans — who are have a anti-democratic attitude toward the way the Constitution functions,” he said during the campaign office visit.
Speaking of Trump, he said: “If you don’t believe it now, you’re going to learn if he wins, it’s a serious, serious problem. So folks, the first point I want to make to you is we must. We must, we must win. Must win, not only for ourselves, but for our children, and those children who aren’t even born yet. It makes a significant difference.”
At the earlier event in Concord, Biden referred to private conversations with world leaders who he said were very concerned about Trump returning to power.
“They’ll pull me aside, one leader after another, quietly, and say, ‘Joe, he can’t win. My democracy is at stake. My democracy is at stake.’”
Biden has had a minimal presence on the campaign trail, with a recent trip to Germany and other travel to survey damage from Hurricane Helene also competing for his time.
The day’s main event was technically not a campaign stop, as Biden appeared with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., meant to focus on reducing prescription drug prices. Still, he delivered a more on-message, if also unscripted, jab at Trump over his “concepts of plan” to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
“I love this guy. I’m trying to be a very good fellow. I’m not letting my Irish get the best of me,” he joked. “I’ve heard that concept of a plan now for almost eight years, a concept of a plan. What the hell is a concept? He has no concept of anything.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
