Biden corrects himself after saying Trump should be locked up

President Biden on Tuesday told a group of Democrats they had to lock up former President Trump before catching himself and specifying he meant politically.

Biden was speaking at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s headquarters, where he warned that “democracy is at stake” in the upcoming election. Biden painted Trump, the GOP nominee, as a grave threat to the rule of law.

The president said Trump would replace civil servants with loyalists and warned Trump would interpret a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity to mean he would have the right to “eliminate” anyone he deems a threat.

“I know this sounds bizarre. If I said this five years ago you’d lock me up. We gotta lock him up,” Biden said to cheers. “Politically lock him up.”

Biden’s comments echoed a common refrain that was used by Trump and his supporters about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. Democrats, including Vice President Harris, have been careful to avoid using similar rhetoric amid Trump’s myriad legal troubles.

The former president was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York earlier this year related to a hush-money scheme. He still faces federal charges in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

Biden as president has been careful to avoid weighing in publicly on Trump’s legal issues, maintaining independence from the Justice Department. Trump has repeatedly decried the cases against him as politically motivated.

The Trump campaign quickly seized on the remarks to claim Biden had admitted the investigations into Trump were political.

“Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The Harris-Biden Admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.”

Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has routinely pushed back when her own crowds have chanted “lock him up” in reference to Trump, saying the courts would take care of the matter while she remained focused on winning at the ballot box.