President Joe Biden said in an interview Wednesday he is all but certain Donald Trump, his predecessor and presumptive 2024 rival, will reject the results of the November election and called Trump “dangerous” for the nation.
“The guy is not a democrat with a small d,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett during a visit to Wisconsin this week.
“How many court cases do they have, Supreme Court cases? They’ve all said this is a totally legitimate election. ... He may not accept the outcome of the election? I promise you he won’t. Which is dangerous.”
The president went on to say other world leaders had expressed to him their fear of a second Trump presidency and pointed to Trump’s pledge to prosecute his political opponents if he enters the Oval Office once more.
“He means it,” Biden told Burnett. “I mean, listen to what he’s saying.”
Burnett pointed to Trump’s recent comments to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which he alluded once again that he would only accept results he agreed with. Trump won Wisconsin in 2016, but lost the state to Biden in 2020.
“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” the former president said in an interview with the paper. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country. … But if everything’s honest, which we anticipate it will be — a lot of changes have been made over the last few years — but if everything’s honest, I will absolutely accept the results.”
Trump has repeatedly suggested he would investigate his opponents if reelected and has lashed out with fury amid his four criminal indictments. The former president is currently on trial over an alleged coverup of hush money payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. But he had two court victories this week after a pair of cases — centered on his handling of classified documents and another on racketeering charges in Georgia — were delayed, likely beyond the November election.
Biden also announced a major shift in policy in the CNN interview Wednesday, saying the U.S. would stop arms shipments to Israel if it invades the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah ― they haven’t gone in Rafah yet ― if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities,” Biden said.