Comments came after the vice-president said of Trump: ‘Do I wish I was debating him? No, I wish we were in high school and I could take him behind the gym’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Republican nominee Donald Trump implied on Tuesday that he would be willing to fight the sitting vice-president Joe Biden behind a barn.

Speaking at a rally in Tallahassee, Florida, almost precisely two weeks to the minute to when polls close there on election day, Trump said of a fist fight between the two: “I’d love that.”

The 70-year-old Republican nominee for president also labeled the vice-president “Mr Tough Guy” and said of beating up the 73-year-old Biden: “Some things in life you could really love doing.”

The comments came after Biden said of Trump on Saturday: “The press always asks me, don’t I wish I was debating him? No, I wish we were in high school and I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”

Biden made the comments in reference to a lewd 2005 tape recording of Trump, unearthed in early October, where the Republican nominee bragged about being able to grab women by the genitalia without their consent.

On Monday, Biden clarified his remarks in a rally, saying he meant “If I were in high school ... I want to make it clear I understand what assault is. I’m not in high school. If I were in high school.” The septuagenarian graduated from the Archmere Academy prep school in Claymont, Delaware, in 1961.

Trump seemed to welcome the opportunity to fight the vice-president. “Did you see where Biden wants to take me behind a barn? Me. He wants it. I’d love that,” the Republican nominee said with relish.

Casting scorn on Biden’s physical strength, Trump said, “Mr Tough Guy, you know he’s Mr Tough Guy, you know when he’s Mr Tough Guy? When he’s standing behind a microphone by himself.”

Trump added: “He wants to bring me to the back of the barn? Oooooooooh. Some things in life you could really love doing.”

The last time a sitting vice-president engaged in a major violent altercation with a fellow politician, Aaron Burr killed former secretary of treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel on 11 July 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey.