Biden gives his first public comments on Trump picking J.D. Vance as his VP … and reveals to the Daily Mail if he has ‘faith’ in the Secret Service

President Joe Biden made his first public comments on JD Vance on Monday, speaking to DailyMail.com about whether he has confidence in his Secret Service team.

En route to Las Vegas for a two-day campaign trip, Biden stopped to talk to reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. He said of Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick: “A clone of Trump on the issues. I don’t see any difference.”

And when asked by DailyMail.com if he had confidence in his Secret Service team, Biden said: “Yes, I do.”

The president is defending the Secret Service, which has been criticized for allowing a shooter onto a roof so close to the security perimeter at Trump’s rally, allowing a clear shot to be aimed at the former president.

Biden carried a more visible security presence during his trip to the West Coast. Four agents flanked Marine One as it landed at Joint Base Andrews, and the agents formed a tight perimeter around the president as he touched down at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

Trump, meanwhile, joined the Republican National Convention on Monday night, walking onto the stage to cheers and chants of “fight, fight, fight.”

The former president had a white bandage over his right ear. Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed Trump’s ear when he fired at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.

Trump sat in a box at the convention with Vance and several family members, including children Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany, to listen to the evening’s speakers. Melania Trump was not present. The theme of the convention’s first night was “Make America wealthy again.”

Biden will spend the next two days in Las Vegas, where he will spend two days talking to Black and Latino voters as he tries to adapt his campaign to the new political reality.

As part of the trip, he and his team will explore how to advance Trump’s candidacy without appearing insensitive to Trump.

Several conservatives pointed to Biden’s campaign rhetoric as a reason Trump was targeted. Both sides have spoken harshly about each other.

There is one concern the president may be able to allay: calls for him to resign as the Democratic nominee.

Since Saturday’s shooting, no Democrat has called on him to withdraw from the race.

Party members now appear to believe that replacing Biden would add further chaos to the race, which was marred by the assassination attempt on Trump.

And even more people think the failed assassination attempt will change the dynamics of the race in Trump’s favor.

A Democratic donor told Bloomberg News that he previously believed Biden should be replaced, but now believes it should not be done because it would lead to chaos.

And the feeling is that Trump has victory within reach, regardless of who is on the Democratic ticket.

Pollster Frank Luntz noted that the shooting “guarantees that every Trump supporter now will be a Trump voter in November. Trump’s voters are energized, Biden’s voters are demoralized.”

“It is hard to imagine that Biden or any of the potential Democratic candidates would now come up with loud, crowd-pleasing attacks on the former president, thereby losing most of their ability to play Trump by labeling him a ‘threat to democracy,’ when he has just survived a real threat to democracy,” he said. wrote in a thread on X.

“The 2024 presidential election is now Trump’s to lose.”

Donald Trump with running mate JD Vance at the Republican National Convention

Biden has tried to calm the fear that has spread across the political world after the horrific attack on Trump.

On Sunday, he delivered a speech to the nation from the Oval Office, calling for an end to political violence, noting that both Republicans and Democrats have been targeted in the violence.

“You know the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to tone it down a little bit,” Biden said. “Politics should never be a literal battlefield — God forbid a battlefield.”

The president said it was time for unity, and he noted that he had a “short but good” conversation with Trump.

Many Republicans were quick to blame Biden and his allies for the violence, arguing that political attacks on Trump, which threaten democracy, have created a toxic environment.

In particular, they pointed to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, in which he said, “It’s time to put Trump in our sights.”

However, Trump has also used belligerent words and images of violence in his campaign rhetoric.

Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Sniper team stand guard on Air Force One at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas

While Biden is in Las Vegas, will address the 15th NAACP National Convention and give an interview with BET on Tuesday. He will also participate in an economic summit with Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.

On Wednesday, Biden will be the keynote speaker at the UnidosUS annual conference at the MGM Grand and will hold a campaign rally afterwards.

His trip to Vegas would be the second of two campaign visits this week.

But his visit to Austin, Texas, on Monday, where he was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, was canceled after the attempted shooting of Trump.