Oct. 4 (UPI) — President Joe Biden on Friday amplified concerns among Donald Trump‘s opponents that the Republican nominee won’t accept defeat in next month’s presidential election and is worried the vote may not be “peaceful.”
Making a surprise appearance at a White House press briefing 31 days before the Nov. 5 election, Biden was asked if he he thought the election would be “free and fair” and whether it would be “peaceful.”
“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” he responded, adding, “The things that 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 cautionary comments came as national attention has once again turned to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to halt Congress’ certification of Biden’s 2020 Electoral College victory over the Republican.
The details of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s revamped Jan. 6 election interference case against Trump were unsealed Wednesday, providing stark new evidence of an alleged wide-ranging conspiracy perpetrated by Trump and his political allies to deny and overturn the will of the nation’s voters.
The timing of that filing was blasted by Trump as a “political hit job” and, without evidence, he blamed it on Democrats “weaponizing the Justice Department.”
And during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, and Democratic opponent Tim Walz, Trump’s continuing refusal to recognize the results of the last election was highlighted by the Minnesota governor in a moment that has been turned into a campaign ad for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Toward the end of the debate, Walz asked Vance if he agreed that Trump lost the last election.
“Did he lose the 2020 election?” he asked.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance replied while attempting to change the subject to alleged censorship of right-wing speech by social media platforms.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz interjected. “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.”
Biden on Friday referred to that exchange, citing it as possible evidence that Trump and his supporters may not accept another defeat and could once again resort to political violence.
Saying he’s “concerned about what they’re going to do,” the president noted, “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.”
Trump this week again claimed unspecified conspirators “stole” the 2020 election from him.
“We won, we won, we did win,” he said at a rally Thursday in Saginaw, Mich. “It was a rigged election.”