Former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield on Monday apologized and corrected herself after saying Democrats must choose “to try to win this election and turn their fire on Donald Trump.”

President Joe Biden urged America to “lower the temperature in our politics” following the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. However, he became defensive when NBC News host Lester Holt pressed him about rhetoric that might incite violence. Bedingfield, who served as White House communications director under Biden, acknowledged she “shouldn’t have” used the phrase “turn their fire,” and revised it to “turn their focus.”

“He has said many, many times, after having been questioned many times about this, that he’s not stepping down and he’s going to be the nominee,” Bedingfield said. “So at some point, Democrats have to decide that they want to try to win this election and turn their fire on Donald Trump. I think there is — I shouldn’t have said ‘turn their fire.’ I apologize. That was not the phrase that I meant. They need to turn their focus on Donald Trump.”

WATCH:

Former Biden Official Corrects Herself After Saying Dems Must ‘Turn Their Fire On Donald Trump’ To Beat Him pic.twitter.com/QWLgfB4SIH

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 16, 2024

Biden told donors during a private call on July 8 his “one job” is to “beat Donald Trump,” saying “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” Politico reported.

“Let’s talk about the conversation this has started, and it’s really about language, what we say out loud and the consequences of that,” Holt said. “You called your opponent an ‘existential threat’ on a call a week ago. You said, ‘it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.’ There’s some dispute about the context, but I think you appreciate—”

”I didn’t say crosshairs,” Biden responded. “I was talking about focus on. Look, the truth of the matter was, what I guess I was talking about at the time was there’s very little focus on Trump’s uh, agenda.”

He called it a “mistake” that he said “bullseye.”

“I didn’t say, I didn’t mean crosshairs, I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him,” he added.