‘No I Do Not!’ Biden Bristles at Pelley Over Anti-MAGA Speech in Unaired 60 Minutes Interview Clip

President Joe Biden bristled at 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley‘s description of his anti-MAGA speech, calling it a “fundamental misreading of my speech.

Almost two weeks ago, President Joe Biden delivered a speech that was largely a rebuke of former President Donald Trump and those who support the insurrection that culminated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, but which also included criticisms of efforts to end privacy rights. Opponents and media figures criticized the speech as “political” or “divisive.”

In an exclusive interview that aired on Sunday’s edition of CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Pelley grilled President Biden on a variety of topics. But it was in an unaired, online-only clip that Pelley drew fire from Biden by accusing him of “conflating” insurrectionists with people who oppose abortion rights:

PRESIDENT BIDEN (video clip): Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represented extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.

SCOTT PELLEY: Sir, in your Philadelphia speech recently, you warned of MAGA Republicans, those who attacked the Capitol.

PRESIDENT BIDEN (video clip): They look at the mob to storm the United States Capitol on January 6, brutally attacking law enforcement, not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots.

SCOTT PELLEY: But later in the speech, you conflated them with people who disagree with you on abortion. And I wonder if —

PRESIDENT BIDEN: No, I do not! That’s a misreading of my speech. That’s a fundamental misreading of my speech.

SCOTT PELLEY: Well, sir, you talked about the right to choose. You talk about the right to conception(sic). You talk about the right to marry the person you love.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: I was making a speech about the state of affairs in the Republican Party and us. I wasn’t just talking about MAGA Republicans. The MAGA Republicans are the people who say, refuse to acknowledge that an election took place and there was a winner. The MAGA Republicans are those people who, in fact, say that the use of violence is a legitimate tool, like what happened to the Capitol. They’re the MAGA Republicans. You can’t call yourself a democratic republic and support violence internally against the government, and at the same time talk about not recognizing the outcome of the election as overwhelmingly agreed to be legitimate.

SCOTT PELLEY: Do you fear that speech created more division than unity in the country?

PRESIDENT BIDEN: No, I don’t fear that at all. I think a significant portion of mainstream Republicans know it to be true, and agree.

Watch above via CBS.