Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to walk back his bellicose rhetoric Friday, after suggesting he would have taken President Trump "behind the gym and beat the hell out of him" if Trump had disrespected women while they were in high school.

"I shouldn't have said what I said, I shouldn't have brought it up again, because I don't want to get down in the mosh pit with this guy," Biden told "Pod Save America" in an interview teased Friday.



Joe Biden talks about his "fight" with Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/8vnG38QciD — Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) March 23, 2018



Biden explained he first referred to a possible altercation with Trump during the lead-up to the 2016 election after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape, which captured the president's making lewd comments about being able to grab women's genitalia back in 2005.

He repeated his threat Tuesday at an anti-sexual assault rally hosted by the University of Miami as part of the “It’s on Us” campaign, which is working to change campus culture regarding sexual misconduct.

Trump responded via Twitter on Thursday, saying Biden "would go down fast and hard, crying all the way" if they were ever to engage in a melee.



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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2018



"I said, you know if we were in high school, and I did this again, I said if we were in high school, and he said that in the presence of my sister, I would take him behind the gym," Biden said Friday.

"Now, the idea that I would actually physically get in a contest with the president of the United States or anybody else now is not what I said and is not what this was about," he added.