Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election

President Joe Biden said Friday he was not confident the U.S. election in November would be peaceful, citing incendiary comments by Republican contender Donald Trump, who still rejects his 2020 defeat.

Biden's warning came with lawmakers and analysts voicing concern over increasingly bellicose campaign language ahead of the vote.

Trump—who survived an assassination bid in July and another apparent plot in September—alleged widespread fraud after his defeat to Biden, and pro-Trump rioters, riled up by his false claims, ransacked the U.S. Capitol.

"I'm confident it will be free and fair. I don't know whether it will be peaceful," Biden told reporters as he discussed the election.

"The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous."

Trump was impeached in 2021 for inciting the insurrection after hundreds of his supporters—exhorted by the defeated Republican to "fight like hell"—battered police as they smashed windows at the Capitol and broke through doors.

 'They cheat like hell' 

He has been indicted over what prosecutors allege was a "private criminal effort" to subvert the election that culminated in the violence.

Trump—who is due to return to the venue of his first assassination bid in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday—has long been assailed over his violent rhetoric.

Biden made his comments during what was the first appearance of his presidency in the White House briefing room, where he touted his administration's achievements as his vice president, Kamala Harris, battles Trump.

Harris and Trump, meanwhile, were barnstorming the battleground states that are likely to decide who wins the...