By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden used the formal setting of the White House Oval Office on Sunday to ask Americans to lower the political temperature and remember they are neighbors after a would-be assassin wounded Republican rival Donald Trump.
Trump’s shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday “calls on all of us to take a step back,” Biden said. Thankfully Trump was not seriously injured, he said.
“We can’t allow this violence to be normalized. The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down," he said. "We all have a responsibility to do this."
“In America we resolve our differences at the ballot box. Now that’s how we do it. At the ballot box. Not with bullets," Biden said in a speech that was about seven minutes long, and carried live by major news networks and the conservative channel Fox News.
It was Biden's third use of the formal setting of the Oval Office to comment on issues of major importance to Americans since he took power in 2021. This time, it is less than four months to go before the Nov. 5 election, and Biden's political future is in doubt.
Biden's appearance allowed him to demonstrate the power of incumbency, an important symbolic image as he battles some in his own Democratic Party who want the 81-year-old leader to step aside from seeking re-election out of concerns he lacks the mental acuity for another four-year term.
Biden ran through some of the U.S.'s multiple instances of political violence in recent years, including the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump loyalists and the hammer-beating injury of Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in 2022.
"Violence has never been the answer," Biden said.
Four U.S. presidents have been assassinated and several escaped assassination attempts. Multiple presidential candidates have been shot, some fatally.
White House officials hope the Trump shooting attempt might ease the pressure on Biden to step aside by prompting Democrats to rally around him.
Biden garbled a few words and phrases in his address, a regular occurrence for the president, but one in the spotlight after his faltering June 27 debate performance. After he finished the address, Fox News Channel and other conservative news outlets highlighted his stumbles.
Biden's Oval address was a rare one. Last October he made a prime-time speech to comment on the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts and in June of 2023 he spoke when a deal was reached with Republicans to avoid a breach of the U.S. debt ceiling.
His campaign has called off verbal attacks on Trump to focus instead on the future. Within hours of Saturday's shooting, Biden's campaign was pulling down television ads and suspending other political communications.
“Tonight I’m asking every American to recommit," Biden said. "Hate must have no safe harbor.”
But he said it is fair to contrast his vision with that of the former president, and that he planned to do so soon. Biden called off a trip to Texas on Monday for a civil rights address but will go to Las Vegas Tuesday for a speech.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly and David Lawder; Editing by Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)
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