How Biden is adjusting in aftermath of Trump shooting and Democrats asking him to drop out

With the Republican National Convention underway, President Joe Biden is easing back into campaign mode. White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports on how President Biden is adjusting his campaign after calling on Americans to reject political violence.

Read the Full Transcript

Amna Nawaz: As Republicans convene here to nominate their candidate, President Joe Biden is easing back into campaign mode after canceling events in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.

Tonight, NBC News will air its sit-down interview with the president.

Geoff Bennett: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering the latest and joins us now from Washington.

So, Laura, last night, in his address to the nation, President Biden urged Americans to lower the temperature — that was the phrase that he used — following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. How has all of this affected his approach and his campaign?

Laura Barron-Lopez: That’s right, Geoff.

In the address last night, President Biden called on Americans to lower the temperature. He also said that political violence is unacceptable across the board, any kind of political violence. And when it comes to his campaign, Geoff, he’s temporarily halted or paused some of his campaigning.

The biggest changes ultimately were the fact that he canceled a scheduled event in Texas to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, as well as a fund-raiser that he had planned on holding in Texas. That was set for today. And, also, his campaign paused all political ads, and they haven’t said when they are going to resume those.

But with this NBC interview tonight with Lester Holt, President Biden is going to be resuming campaigning, the campaign said. And we got a first look at some of this. We got a look at this interview. And, in it, President Biden was asked about comments he made in a call with donors last week when he told them that the talk of the debate was over and that he wanted to put Donald Trump in the bullseye.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: Actually I guess I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate, focus — I mean, there’s a whole range of things that, 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. I’m not the guy who said that he wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically.

Laura Barron-Lopez: President Biden added in that interview with Lester Holt that Trump is the candidate that he’s going to be resuming campaigning, including law enforcement, including judges and prosecutors, in his interview with Lester Holt.

And then his campaigning is also set to resume in Nevada tomorrow — Geoff and Amna.

Amna Nawaz: Laura, what about those Democratic efforts that we were all talking about not too long ago about Democrats trying to get President Biden to step aside from the top of the ticket? Where do those efforts stand now?

Laura Barron-Lopez: There’s still split amongst Democrats, Amna.

The Democrats that I spoke to today, I spoke to a Democratic Party chair who said that they think that the conversation is over following the last few weeks, as well as this assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Donors that I spoke to are resigned that they think that President Biden will remain at the top of the Democratic ticket.

One Democratic adviser to donors said that they feel as though they could be headed toward a party extinction-level event come November. I also spoke to Congressman Adam Smith, one of the Democrats who has called on Biden to step aside. And he was on a call with President Biden this past weekend that didn’t go so well.

And Congressman Smith told me that the conversation about replacing Biden at the top of the ticket isn’t over and that, in that call, multiple Democrats asked the president, they said to him that they felt as though the party was in trouble looking forward towards November, and they asked him what his plan was to fix it.

And Congressman Smith told me that President Biden said that he didn’t think that the party was in trouble, that polls show a steady race, and that he feels as though he hasn’t been given enough credit on his record of achievements as president.

Geoff Bennett: Well, Laura, with at least one Democrat warning of an extinction-level event — I mean, I wrote that in my notes. That’s really staggering.

How is the president aiming to counter that? What’s his message moving forward?

Laura Barron-Lopez: Campaign officials tell me that they still feel as though the dynamics of the race have not changed, that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump hasn’t changed those dynamics, as well they know that there’s more work to do with Democrats.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair for President Biden’s campaign, spoke to reporters today and saying that the president is going to be focused heavily still on the democracy message, zeroing in on Project 2025, which is that blueprint from conservative allies of Donald Trump for a second Trump term, and that they also are going to be heavily focused on abortion, especially in the state of Nevada, where Biden is heading to.

He’s also going to be focused on housing and the economy. So they say that they are not changing their campaign strategy at all when it comes to attacking Donald Trump on threats to democracy.

Amna Nawaz: Laura, meanwhile, on the brief time we have left, I know even amid the calls from some leaders to tamp down the political rhetoric, you have been tracking some continuing calls for violence, also conspiracy theories spreading online.

Tell us what you have seen.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Many GOP lawmakers called for calm, like President Biden, Amna, but there were leading GOP lawmakers, including the vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, who blamed Democrats, blamed Biden for the assassination attempt, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who ended a rant of conspiracies on X saying that — quote — “The Democrat Party is flat-out evil. And, yesterday, they tried to murder President Trump.”

Now, a nonprofit research group that I have spoke to says that there have been increased calls for violence on social media, namely among Proud Boys, but also among some lawmakers in Congress — Amna.

Amna Nawaz: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joining us.

Laura, thank you.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Thank you.