Biden campaign has ‘sense of urgency’ as it accuses Trump of stoking political violence

President Joe Biden‘s campaign convened an in-person press conference to respond to former President Donald Trump sharing a video on social media that included an image of Biden hogtied.

“This campaign has a sense of urgency right now,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters on Monday. “We are in April of 2024. We are making sure that the American people understand [what’s at stake]. People say it every cycle, but it’s true this time: This is going to be the most important election of our lifetime.”

“That’s why we obviously had a fundraiser in New York last week,” Tyler said of the $26 million event with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. “Yes, it was fun to celebrate the massive amount of money that was raised by three decades of Democratic leadership at the presidency, but what [that money will do is] make sure that we’re able to open up field offices. … We’re going to work day in, day out, right now from now until Election Day to make sure that we can actually talk about the stakes.”

Tyler opened the press conference, hosted by the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., by contending political violence is “central” to Trump’s brand. The spokesman then introduced former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who both were at the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“For Trump, the violence is a weapon to get what he wants: Power, revenge, retribution,” Gonell said. “I have seen what happens if someone like him has power, and I barely survived.”

“As a police officer who experienced the attack on our Capitol firsthand, I believe Donald Trump and his MAGA movement are the greatest threat to our democracy across the country today,” Hodges added.

“That picture was on the back of a pickup truck that was traveling down the highway,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner. “Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.”

A Trump campaign spokesman also said that in March 2018, Biden himself told a crowd, “If we were in high school, I’d take [Trump] behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”