Biden Tells CBS Reporter that Attacking Trump Is Necessary to ‘Heal’: ‘You Have to Recognize the Extent of the Wound’

President Joe Biden said Thursday that excoriating his predecessor was necessary for Americans to “heal.”

“Does calling [Donald Trump] out divide more than it heals?” CBS News’ Nikole Killion asked Biden after his Jan. 6 address. “You’ve talked so much about healing, sir.”

“No, no, look,” Biden replied. “The way you have to heal, you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can’t pretend. This is serious stuff. And a lot of people, understandably, want to go, ‘Look, you know, I’d just as soon not face it.’ You’ve got to face it. That’s what great nations do. They face the truth.”

Biden had just taken aim at former President Donald Trump in a speech moments earlier, saying he “rallied the mob to attack” the Capitol in January 2021.

“A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election,” he added. “He [did] so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest.”

Trump shot back in a statement that “Biden used my name today to try to further divide America,” and took the opportunity to tack on a list of policy critiques, adding, “Our Country no longer has Borders, has totally and completely lost control of Covid (record numbers!), is no longer Energy Independent, Inflation is rampant, our Military is in chaos, and our exit, or surrender, from Afghanistan was perhaps the most embarrassing day in the long and distinguished history of the United States — and so much more.”

Watch above via Fox News.