President Joe Biden suggested on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump should be in jail, just two weeks ahead of the presidential election. Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, the 81-year-old president remarked, “We gotta lock him up,” referring to Trump.

Biden appeared to quickly realize the gravity of his statement and attempted to clarify, adding, “We need to politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”

His comments followed similar rhetoric at Democratic campaign rallies where “lock him up” chants targeting Trump have surfaced. Notably, Vice President Kamala Harris has consistently urged rally-goers to leave such matters to the courts, emphasizing her campaign’s message of preserving democracy and upholding the rule of law.

This new controversy mirrors the 2016 “lock her up” chants directed at Hillary Clinton by Trump supporters, a slogan that Democrats continue to criticize.

Trump, who has framed his campaign around contesting the multiple criminal cases against him, accuses his opponents of using the legal system—what he calls “lawfare”—to interfere in the election. He is set to face sentencing in September after being convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, a case that could technically land him in jail. However, legal experts suggest it’s unlikely, given that he is a first-time offender in a white-collar crime.

Biden’s remark prompted a swift response from Trump’s camp. Donald Trump Jr. took to X, accusing the Biden administration of blatant election interference, writing, “They’re not even hiding it. The lawfare against my dad was always about election interference!”

Trump has not hesitated to go after his political opponents, frequently referring to them as “enemies from within.”