President Joe Biden tried to clarify his comment about calling for regime change in Russia after trying to walk back his comments from a speech in Poland.
“I’m not walking back anything,” he told reporters at the White House when asked about his assertion that “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
Biden’s comment prompted concern and alarm from foreign policy experts and leaders around the world who criticized the president for needlessly escalating the conflict with Russia.
Biden stressed he was not calling for a change in policy toward Putin and Russia, just sharing his outrage.
“I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change,” he said.
When asked to explain his comment, Biden said he was reacting emotionally to Putin’s actions after meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
“I was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man. It’s outrageous. It’s outrageous and it’s more of an aspiration than anything – he shouldn’t be in power,” he said.
“People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do … doesn’t mean I can’t voice my outrage about it,” he added.
Biden appeared frustrated that anyone interpreted his comment as a change in policy toward Putin.
“It’s ridiculous. Nobody believes we’re going to take down… I was talking about taking down Putin,” he complained. “Nobody believes that.”
He said he was “talking to the Russian people” and the rest of the world.
“This is just stating a simple fact, that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable,” he said.
The president warned Putin that he had endangered his political position in Russia.
“If he continues on this course that he’s on, he is going to be a pariah worldwide, and who knows what he becomes at home in terms of support?” He asked.
When Biden was asked if he believed his comment needlessly escalated the conflict with Putin, Biden replied, “No I’m not. Not at all.”
When a reporter asked about his three different comments during his trip to Europe that had to be clarified by the White House, Biden denied they even happened.
“None of the three occurred, you interpreted the language that way,” he said.
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