Biden predicts fair election but says he's uncertain it will be peaceful

Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning across Michigan while former President Donald Trump touched down in Georgia, a state still reeling from Hurricane Helene. All this as President Biden weighed in on election security in his first-ever appearance in the White House briefing room. Lisa Desjardins reports.

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Amna Nawaz: Turning now to the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning across Michigan, while former President Donald Trump touched down in Georgia, a state still reeling from Hurricane Helene, all this as President Biden weighed in on election security in his first ever appearance in the White House Briefing Room.

Lisa Desjardins reports.

Lisa Desjardins: At the White House, among the questions for the departing president, Politics Monday’s Tamara Keith asked Mr. Biden about the upcoming election and whether it will be free, fair, and peaceful.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: Two separate questions.

Tamara Keith, National Public Radio: Very much.

Joe Biden: I’m confident it’ll be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful. The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous.

Lisa Desjardins: In Georgia, the former president responded.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I don’t know anything about what he said. I only can hope that it’s going to be free and fair, and I think in this state it will be, and I hope in every state it will be. And I think we’re going to do very well, but right now we’re focused on this. We’re not focused on the election.

Lisa Desjardins: Trump was on the ground in Evans, Georgia, meeting members of the National Guard, shaking hands alongside an old foe, Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

While Trump has raised millions for recovery through a GoFundMe, the dual appearance raised the specter of 2020. Kemp took months to endorse Trump and Trump attacked him for years when he refused to question Georgia’s 2020 results. And just this week…

Donald Trump: The federal government is not being responsive.

Lisa Desjardins: … Trump falsely claimed that Kemp couldn’t get a hold of President Biden in the hurricane’s aftermath. Kemp said explicitly that he did connect and was grateful to Biden.

In his remarks today, Kemp focused on his recovery in state.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA): What they’re going through, what we’re all going through is a living nightmare, and we’re going to continue to pull together as we go through this together.

Lisa Desjardins: By the end, at this first meeting of the two in years, he and Trump appeared congenial. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, was also in the Peach State today, looking ahead in Lindale.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: We’re focused on the future in this election and in this campaign. If you look at what President Trump says, what I say, we are focused on the future every single day.

Lisa Desjardins: But the ripple effects of 2020 and Trump’s lies about it continue. Yesterday, a Colorado judge sentenced Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, to nine years in prison. Once a hero to election deniers, she was found guilty of a security breach involving the county’s voting machines in 2020.

Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: If he wins again, it will be more of the same.

Lisa Desjardins: Focused on 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris took her campaign to a firehouse in Detroit, Michigan, today.

Kamala Harris: Donald Trump is a man who tried to cut funding for our first responders, including SAFER grants for firefighters. As we stand here in a house of labor, we will not be fooled. We will not be gaslighted. Donald Trump’s track record is a disaster for working people.

Lisa Desjardins: Both Harris and Trump have upcoming stops in North Carolina, another state reshaped by Helene. Roughly half of the more than 215 known deaths from that storm occurred there, and rescuers are still searching for victims one week on.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Lisa Desjardins.