President Biden said on Monday it was “a mistake” to say that he wanted to put former President Donald J. Trump back in “a bull’s-eye” but defended his descriptions of his rival in the 2024 election as a threat to the foundations of the nation’s democracy.

“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Mr. Biden asked NBC’s Lester Holt, according to an excerpt from an interview released by the network Monday afternoon.

“Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?” he asked.

The president’s comments come just two days after a would-be assassin shot at Mr. Trump at a rally in western Pennsylvania, grazing the former president’s ear and killing one of his supporters.

Republicans have accused Mr. Biden of stoking violence against Mr. Trump, pointing to a comment that the president made last week to donors. He told them that “we’re done talking about the debate; it’s time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.”

Mr. Biden told Mr. Holt that “it was a mistake to use the word.” He added: “I didn’t, I didn’t say cross hairs. I meant bull’s-eye. I meant focus on it. Focus on what he’s doing.”

He added that Mr. Trump has used incendiary rhetoric for years, citing the former president’s statement that he intends to be a “dictator on Day 1” and his comments in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which he encouraged people to head to the Capitol.