President Joe Biden on Saturday again tried to blame Republicans for the attack on Paul Pelosi on Friday.
“You can’t condemn the violence unless you condemn those people who continue to argue the election was not real, that it’s being stolen, that all the malarkey that’s being put out there to undermine democracy,” he said.
The president spoke to reporters about the attack at a polling center in Delaware, where he voted early with his granddaughter Natalie Biden.
President Joe Biden leaves after voting early in the midterm elections with his granddaughter Natalie Biden in Wilmington, Delaware on October 29, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“The talk has to stop. That’s the problem,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
Biden appeared annoyed the Republicans were condemning political violence without condemning some of the rhetoric coming from their colleagues.
Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi attend the 23rd Annual Mark Twain Prize For American Humor at The Kennedy Center on April 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
“You can’t just say, ‘I feel badly about the violence; we condemn it,’” he said. “Condemn what produces the violence, and this talk produces the violence.”
He blamed Republican political rhetoric for inspiring mentally ill people to violence.
“It affects people’s mentality. It affects how people think, particularly people who are not, maybe, as stable as other people,” Biden said.
Biden again cited reporting that the attacker began asking, “Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and tried to again suggest that the attacker was motivated by the January 6th protests and the 2020 election.
“Don’t know for certain, but it looks like this was intended for Nancy,” he said.
