United States President Joe Biden has warned that he is "not confident" of a peaceful transfer if Donald Trump loses the presidential elections, poised to take place later this year. Trump's statement stems from the Republican nominee's remark suggesting the only way he'd lose is if the election is stolen from him.
“If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News. He then corrected himself saying: "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 will have to be a stolen election.”
Trump had warned in March that if he lost the elections this year, it would be a "bloodbath" for the US auto industry and the country. The Biden faction quickly leapt on the comment claiming the former president was inciting political violence.
Biden has warned that Trump is unlikely to concede the election if he loses, making the issue of protecting democracy a central tenet of his 2024 campaign.
Last month, while explaining the decision to end his campaign, Biden sought to contrast Trump's refusal to accept election results with his own decision to step aside as the Democratic nominee.
“Look, I’m not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one. I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election,” he said at the time.
“I’m not the guy who said that he wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically. You can’t only love your country when you win,” he added.
On Wednesday, Biden also warned that Trump was preparing to challenge the election results again in November as he did in 2020, including by putting in place sympathetic local election officers.