President Joe Biden told a Democrat field office in New Hampshire on Tuesday that "we gotta lock him up."
By "him," he meant Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has been indicted four times — twice by Biden's Department of Justice — and been found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May.
The verbal challenge comes as Trump has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence and declared the cases against him as part of a political scheme to thwart his reelection bid next month.
"This is a guy who also wants to replace every civil servant. Every single one. Thinks he has a right under the Supreme Court ruling on immunity to be able, if need be, if he, if it was the case, to actually eliminate, physically eliminate, shoot, kill someone who is a, he believes to be a threat to him," Biden told staffers in remarks that appeared somewhat meandering and even reminscent of his much-maligned debate performance. (That performance supercharged arguments that Biden, at 81, was too old and unfit to seek a second term, ultimately forcing him to end his run.)
"I mean, so I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like I said [sic] this five years ago, you'd lock me up. We gotta lock him up," Biden said to applause. After a pause of nearly five seconds, he appeared to take a step back, finally saying, "Politically lock him up — lock him out, that's what we've got to do."
Biden's comments come exactly two weeks before the general election. Trump and Kamala Harris, who supplanted Biden as the Democrat presidential nominee less than a month after his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, are neck and neck in many national polling averages.
In addition to the cases brought by Biden's DOJ and state courts – cases dubbed "lawfare" by Trump and his allies – Trump has also endured two assassination attempts since July.
In the 2016 election, Trump famously spurred cries of "lock her up" in relation to opponent Hillary Clinton over her handling of emails while secretary of state under President Barack Obama. But there was no prosecution of Clinton, who ultimately lost the election to Trump,
Trump has also urged the punishment of Biden and his son Hunter over allegations of influence peddling. And, on the campaign trail this cycle, Trump has thrashed political opponents and suggested his administration would look at jailing political opponents who've been "doing it to us" via multiple politicized prosecutions.