Biden campaign adviser: Trump ‘has been trying to incite violence this entire summer’

Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield accused President Trump on Sunday of “inciting violence” with his response to unrest in American cities.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Bedingfield noted that the previous guest, Trump campaign adviser Lara Trump, had falsely claimed Biden waited months to condemn violence at protests.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Bedingfield said, noting Biden’s condemnation of violence “right after” George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May.

“Part of why we are in the state of chaos that we’re in in this country is because Donald Trump has failed to lead on the coronavirus. He failed to take it seriously from the outset, and he’s failed to be a uniter. He’s failed to lead,” she said. “Trump has been trying to incite violence this entire summer.”

“He’s had every opportunity to speak as a leader to this nation, to speak to people who are in trouble but also people who are looking around and are afraid, who see chaos,” Bedingfield added. “He has encouraged his supporters to go out, to be aggressive.”

Bedingfield also pointed to comments by counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway implying violence in the streets is to the president’s electoral advantage.

“He has at every opportunity tried to fan the flames here, and that is the reason we are living in Donald Trump’s America,” she added. “He is trying to make an argument about Joe Biden’s America pointing to things that are happening in Donald Trump’s America.”

Wallace pressed Bedingfield on comments Biden made in an interview suggesting that, as president, he would reimpose mass coronavirus lockdown measures if advised to do so by experts.

Bedingfield said such a step could be necessary “because Donald Trump has not successfully managed this crisis. We have over 180,000 Americans dead. We have a virus coursing unchecked throughout our country. We have people unable to send their kids back to school.”