US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that his Democratic rival John Kerry should back up his comments that foreign leaders want to see the Republican president defeated.
"If you're going to make an accusation in the course of a presidential campaign, you've got to back it up with facts," Bush told reporters during a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has said he had met with leaders who told him "you've got to beat this guy" because of unhappiness over US foreign policy.
The White House sought on Monday to raise questions about the Massachusetts senator's credibility.