In an interview with CBS News, President Joe Biden said he was not confident of a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025, and then corrected himself, saying Trump wouldn’t peacefully accept a hypothetical loss in the 2024 presidential election.
CBS News political reporter Robert Costa asked Biden, “Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?” Biden first responded, “If Trump wins, no I am not confident at all.” Biden then said he meant Trump would not accept the presidential election results if defeated, stating, “I mean if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all, he means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All the stuff about ‘If we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath, it’ll have been a stolen….’ Look what they’re trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes.”
Biden continues to disseminate the allegation that Trump threatened a violent “bloodbath” if he loses the election, referencing allegations by Biden’s campaign, and Democrats that were widely published — two examples including The New York Times, and USA Today — claiming Trump’s remarks on automotive manufacturing and tariffs were violent threats. Trump claimed his remarks at the rally were referring to the economic impact on the U.S. automotive industry if he loses the 2024 presidential election:
We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes [from Mexico], and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected — now if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country, that’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars, they’re building massive factories.
Biden also questioned Trump’s loyalty to America and its election process, telling Costa, “You can’t love your country only when you win.” CNN political contributor Scott Jennings responded to Biden’s remarks, stating on X, “Joe Biden woke up long enough to repeat the bloodbath lie. What a pathetic ending to a pathetic presidency.”