Story highlights
Last week, Biden said, "I wish we were in high school -- I could take him behind the gym"
For his part, Trump said in Florida Tuesday that he'd "love" to fight Biden
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday defended Vice President Joe Biden over remarks he made last week in saying he wished he could fight Donald Trump.
Earnest blamed rhetoric used by the GOP nominee and Republicans this campaign season that he said has “aroused strong feelings and views from everybody.”
Earnest was responding to a question at the White House briefing on whether he felt the vice president was subscribing to First Lady Michelle Obama’s advice of “When they go low, we go high.”
“I think the vice president would tell you that the rhetoric we’ve heard from Republicans has aroused strong feelings and strong views from everybody, particularly somebody like Vice President Biden who has dedicated his career in public service to preventing violence against women,” Earnest said.
Earnest added that “at the same time” Biden would “wholeheartedly agree with the wisdom that Mrs. Obama has been sharing.”
Biden had originally made the comments last week at a Clinton rally after slamming Trump’s lewd comments on a leaked “Access Hollywood” tape, calling them “the textbook definition of sexual assault.”
Biden added: “The press always ask me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’ No, I wish we were in high school – I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”
During an anti-Trump riff on the campaign trail in Ohio Monday, Biden alluded to the controversy about his wish to slug Trump, emphasizing that he would only do so “If I were in high school.”
“I want to make it clear, I understand what assault is,” Biden said as Clinton supporters laughed. “I’m not in high school. If I were in high school. I used to have a temper in high school. I don’t have a temper anymore, nothing ever bothers me.”
On Tuesday, Biden told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that the point he was trying to make was that “people didn’t act like this in the locker room like he (Trump) talks about,” adding that the Republican nominee is “insulting everybody in the neighborhoods I come from and the people who played ball.”
For his part, Trump said in Florida Tuesday that he’d “love” to fight Biden.
“I’d love that. I’d love that. Mr. Tough Guy. You know, he’s Mr. Tough Guy. You know when he’s Mr. Tough Guy? When he’s standing behind a microphone by himself,” Trump said.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.