In an interesting exchange of words with the reporters in the White House on Monday, US President Joe Biden said that he is not "walking back" on his comment on regime change in Moscow.
"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden had said of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address in Poland over the weekend.
As the world leaders, including France's President Emmanuel Macron, reacted sharply to the US President's remark, the White House had later said that "the President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."
On Monday, Biden was asked by a reporter if he regretted saying that because his government has been "trying to walk that back"? "Did your words complicate matters," he asked.
President Biden gets extremely snippy over Peter Doocy's questions about his claim that Russia's use of chemical weapons will trigger "a response in kind."
Doocy: "What does that mean?"
Biden: "I’m not going to tell you. Why would I tell you? You have to be silly!" pic.twitter.com/yQOeXDzlcv
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 28, 2022
"I'm not walking anything back. 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 the brutality of it. Half the children in Ukraine. I had just come from being with those families," replied Biden.
"And so — but I want to make it clear: I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change. I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it," he added.
Biden's foreign trip has been a complete disaster.
Biden called for regime change in Russia, said U.S. troops were being sent to Ukraine, and suggested he would use chemical weapons against Putin.
His staff had to correct him each time. pic.twitter.com/FUfgcA5EGn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 26, 2022
Another reporter wanted to know about the US response on possible use of chemical weapons by Russia.
"And when you said a chemical weapon use by Russia would 'trigger a response in kind'," the reporter asked.
"It will trigger a significant response," replied Biden.
"What does that mean?" asked the reporter again.
"I'm not going to tell you. Why would I tell you? You got to be silly…" Biden shot back.
(Because) "The world wants to know…" said the reporter.
"The world wants to know a lot of things. I'm not telling them what the response would be; then Russia knows the response," stated the US President.
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