President Joe Biden, in his first interview since abandoning his reelection campaign last month, expressed his fears over what former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump may do if he loses the 2024 election against Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
CBS News’ Robert Costa asked Biden if he was confident that a peaceful transfer of power would take place in January 2025.
“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden replied.
“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 to be a stolen election,’” Biden continued, referring to Trump’s “bloodbath” warning which Democrats have interpreted as a threat of violence but Trump has played down as just being about the economy.
“Look what they’re trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes,” Biden added. “Or putting people in place in states that they’re going to count the votes, right?”
Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden but continues to peddle the false claim that he won.
That message has played a key role in rehabilitating Trump among Republicans who initially condemned him in the wake of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, the violent culmination of Trump’s efforts to overturn the result and prevent Biden from entering the White House.
CBS News shared a preview of Costa’s interview with Biden on social media Thursday. CBS News Sunday Morning will air the full interview on Sunday.
Watch the clip here: