President Biden denied that he was calling for regime change in Russia when he said Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” at the end of a speech in Warsaw on Saturday, but refused to retract the remark entirely.
“I’m not walking anything back,” Biden told reporters during his announcement of the 2023 federal budget on Monday. “The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing and the actions of this man just, just brutality.”
Biden added, “But I want to make it clear: I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change.”
Reporters repeatedly pressed Biden on whether he believed his comments could escalate tensions with Russia. The president repeated that he was giving voice to “outrage” against Putin.
“I just was expressing my outrage. He shouldn’t remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way,” Biden said.
“Nobody believes we’re going to take down…I was talking about taking down Putin. Nobody believes that,” Biden added later in the press conference.
"It's ridiculous. Nobody believes I was talking about taking down Putin. Nobody believes that" — Biden pic.twitter.com/wOS7fNsRzE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 28, 2022
At the end of the Saturday speech, Biden said Ukraine still has a bright future even in the face of Russia’s invasion of the country. Then, referring to Putin, Biden said “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
A White House official walked back the comments minutes later, claiming that Biden “was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” Biden’s remark was not included in the prepared text of the speech, a person familiar with the matter told the Washington Post.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Biden did not intend to call for regime change in Russia.
“I think the president, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else,” Blinken told reporters in Jerusalem.
However, the Kremlin apparently interpreted the comment as a call for regime change.
“That’s not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters Saturday after the speech.
Source: National Review
