Biden also took aim at Trump for entertaining Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Florida club in recent days, accusing him of “sucking up to dictators and authoritarian thugs all around the world”.
“When he says he wants to be a dictator, I believe him,” Biden said.
Trump’s event was held in Rome, Georgia, within the congressional district of right-wing firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“Georgia is a key state, it’s a key state in this election,” she said at the event on Saturday. “We’re going to work as hard as possible to deliver it for Donald Trump.”
Trump meanwhile repeatedly insisted falsely he was the victim of widespread election fraud and he blasted the Georgia district lawyer, Fani Willis, who is prosecuting him for interfering with the 2020 election, accusing her of working with the Biden administration to target him.
He also devoted much of his remarks to the situation at the southern US border. He blamed Biden for the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed last month in Athens, Georgia.
Biden mentioned Riley’s murder during the State of the Union, where he had accused Trump of threatening democracy, kowtowing to Russia and sinking bipartisan immigration reform. Biden apologised on Saturday for referring to the suspect as an “illegal”.
Chris LaCivita, Trump’s co-campaign manager, said Trump would continue to focus on immigration and the economy in the weeks ahead.
“I’m very confident about where we are today, where we’re going to be in November.” LaCivita said. “Because the issues right now aren’t changing.”
Biden attacks Trump in fiery State of the Union speech
There may not be a more hotly contested state than Georgia in the November 5 general election, which swung to Biden in the 2020 election and was central to Trump’s fraud claims.
Trump is expected to clinch his party’s nomination on Tuesday when Georgia, along with Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state hold nominating contests.
The president, however, continues to grapple with a backlash among Democrats for his staunch support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, discontent that could manifest itself in the vote in Georgia on Tuesday.
At his campaign event on Saturday, a heckler was escorted out after calling the president “Genocide Joe”.
A coalition of multi-faith and multiracial groups in Georgia have launched a campaign urging voters to leave their ballots blank instead of voting for Biden on Tuesday, in the hope of sending a message to the White House to reconsider its support of Israel.
Biden edged out Trump in Georgia by just 0.23 per cent in 2020. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the state’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, were adamant that no widespread fraud occurred and that the vote count was legitimate despite Trump’s insistence otherwise.
Prosecutors in Georgia allege Trump and his allies engaged in a conspiracy by making false statements about the election and developing a plan to disrupt and delay the congressional certification of the electoral votes. Trump denies the charges.
Trump and his co-defendants are attempting to disqualify lawyer Willis from the case, alleging she was involved in an “improper relationship” with a special prosecutor she named to the case and that she financially benefited from the relationship. Willis has denied the allegations.
Last month, a Fulton County judge heard arguments on Trump’s request and is expected to issue a ruling within days.
“This whole witch hunt should be put out of its misery and dismissed immediately,” Trump said.
Prosecutors have pushed for starting the Trump trial in Georgia as early as August when Trump would be in the heat of the campaign. But it remains unclear whether it will go forward before the election.
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What if Trump wins?
What if Trump wins?
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