Biden says it was a 'mistake' to say he wanted to put 'bull's-eye' on Trump

President Joe Biden told NBC News in an interview Monday that it was a mistake to say he wanted to put a bull's-eye on Republican nominee Donald Trump, but argued that the rhetoric from his opponent was more incendiary while warning that Trump remained a threat to democratic institutions.

Those remarks from Biden came during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat had been scrambling to shore up his imperiled candidacy with key party constituencies. During that conversation, Biden declared that he was done talking about his poor debate performance and that it was time to put Trump in the bull's-eye, saying Trump has gotten far too little scrutiny on his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.

Insisting there was very little focus on Trump's agenda, Biden told NBC anchor Lester Holt that while he acknowledged his mistake, he nonetheless is not the guy who said I wanted to be a dictator on day one and that he wanted the focus to be on what Trump was saying. It's Trump,