President Joe Biden sat down with NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt on Monday in an exclusive interview, his first since the failed assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump just two days before.

Holt began the interview by asking Biden about the call that the two leading presidential nominees shared following Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania—which left one attendee and the gunman dead.

“Very cordial,” Biden began, “I told him how concerned I was, and wanted to make sure I knew how he was actually doing. He sounded good, he said he was fine, and he thanked me for calling him. I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me.”

Holt then began to ask Biden about how he is thinking about political rhetoric in the wake of the assassination attempt and the swift blame that followed from some of Trump’s allies. On a recent private call with donors, Biden had said that it is “time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.” Holt gave Biden the chance to respond.

“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden said, before noting, “I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bull's-eye. I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing, focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate.”

Their interview takes place as the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Just shortly before Holt and Biden sat down, Trump officially announced that Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who reportedly once called Trump “America’s Hitler,” will be his vice presidential pick.

Before a suspect was identified or a motive determined, Vance took to X to blame Biden and the Democrats for inciting the shooting. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” he wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.”

When asked to respond to the news that Vance will be on the 2024 ticket, Biden said that it’s unsurprising that Trump would “surround himself with people who agree completely with him, have a voting record, that support him.”

“Even though, if you go back to look at the things J.D. Vance said about Trump,” Biden continued, with a laugh. In 2016, Vance said “I can't stomach Trump” and that he was “a ‘Never Trump’ guy,” referring to his now running mate as “cultural heroin”

From the Archive: Free Radicals

Holt asked Biden if he thinks the shooting will “change the trajectory” of the presidential race. Biden responded, “I don’t know. And you don’t know either.” The NBC anchor also mentioned the recent calls for Biden to drop out of the race in the weeks since his disastrous debate performance.

“Do you feel like you’ve weathered the storm on this issue of whether you should be on the ticket or not?” Holt asked. “Look, fourteen million people voted for me to be the nominee in the Democratic party, ok?” Biden said. “I’d listen to them.”

“I’m old,” Biden said at one point. “But I’m only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good. I’ve gotten more done than any president has in a long time in three-and-a-half years. I’m willing to be judged on that.”

Biden was firm on Monday in his concern for Trump after the failed assassination attempt and his persistence that he will continue to discuss what he believes another Trump administration would do to this country.

At one point, Holt asked if he’s “taken a step back” and done any “soul searching on things you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced?”

Biden quickly responded, “I don’t think,” before cutting himself off and asking, rhetorically, “How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?”