Joe Biden, the former vice-president, regrets saying he would “beat the hell” out of Donald Trump if they were in high school for how he treats women.

In a Pod Save America interview released on Wednesday, Biden said: “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

At a University of Miami rally against sexual assault earlier this month, Biden cited Trump’s lewd comments made in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape about grabbing women “by the pussy”.

Play Video 0:48 'I'd beat the hell out of him' says Joe Biden of Trump – video

Biden said at the rally: “A guy who ended up becoming our national leader said, ‘I can grab a woman anywhere and she likes it.’ They asked me if I’d like to debate this gentleman, and I said no. I said, ‘If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.’”

The 75-year-old Biden made similar comments about taking Trump “behind the gym” in the closing days of the 2016 campaign.

After Biden’s remarks in Miami, Trump punched back on Twitter and said: “Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy.”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!

Biden told the podcast he should not have brought it up again. He said: “I don’t want to get down in the mosh pit with this guy.”

Trump denies multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. He is currently being sued separately by a porn star and a Playboy model who allege affairs with him and an Apprentice contestant who says he sexually harassed her.

In 2016, he apologised for the “pussy” comments, which he characterised as “locker room talk”. He has since reportedly said he thinks the tape may be a fake.

Biden has threatened to take Trump “behind the gym” before. At a 2016 rally for Clinton in Toledo, Ohio, for example, he said: “I’ll get myself in trouble and say something like, ‘I’d like to take himself behind the gym if I were in high school. I mean, all kidding aside, wouldn’t you? I mean, for real. Can you imagine a guy in the locker room talking that way? And your sister’s out there watching the game. Not a joke.”

Trump responded then too, calling Biden “Mr Tough Guy” and saying of fighting him: “Some things in life you could really love doing.”