At Wednesday’s press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Jen Psaki if we should take everything that President Joe Biden says about the war in Ukraine with an asterisk next to it, seeing as the White House has to keep “clarifying” Biden’s statements about Vladimir Putin. As Townhall’s Katie Pavlich noted, March was a busy time for the White House in walking back statements about Ukraine.
Biden claims he did not tell U.S. troops they would be in Ukraine (he did). Biden says he didn't say the U.S. would respond "in kind" to a chemical weapons attack (he did). Biden says he didn't call for regime change (he did).
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 28, 2022
He also suggested that the U.S. had troops on the ground in Ukraine training their troops. And this is all before the president’s speech in Poland, which journalists compared to Ronald Reagan’s “tear down this wall” speech, or John F. Kennedy’s speech in Berlin. After Biden wrapped up by saying Putin could not remain in power, the White House rushed out a statement saying the president was not calling for regime change in Russia.
Now Biden has called what’s happening in Ukraine “genocide,” but you know Biden … he likes to “shoot from the shoulder.”
.@PressSec tries to justify @JoeBiden's sudden claim of "genocide" in Ukraine — not justified by the death count — by citing "Putin's aim to wipe out the idea of being Ukrainian." This is an absurdly broad definition. It also prejudices investigation and undermines negotiation.
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 13, 2022
A reporter asks if the fact that the White House has to continually walk-back and contextualize Biden's comments sends "a signal to the world that there kind of is an asterisk next to anything the president says."
Jen Psaki says that Biden is just "calling it like he sees it." pic.twitter.com/FcDcxTWOQ9
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 13, 2022
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REPORTER: "Can you tell us when should we interpret [Biden's] words as his reaction versus U.S. policy?"
PSAKI: "He is the President of United States. He speaks for the United States…I would take his words for exactly what they are." pic.twitter.com/ZVYzAKF3w6
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 13, 2022
Oh, so it's okay for the president to do that now, cool.
— Grab Your Popcorn (@furioustheguy) April 13, 2022
She's basically saying Biden doesn't speak for the White House
— Blood from Ashes (@BloodfromAshes) April 13, 2022
Pretty much.
Shoot from the shoulder huh. So he’s a loose cannon?
— JameyBelyea (@jameybelyea) April 13, 2022
— sojoman 🛡️ (@sojoman4) April 13, 2022
As opposed to shooting oneself in the foot? 😂
— FloridaDame (@Fantine21) April 13, 2022
Major issues here & they aren’t going away
— JP BROOKLYN (@JPBROOKLYN42) April 13, 2022
Whoops … it looks like the State Department is walking back the genocide comment too:
The State Department is making clear it is not declaring a genocide in Ukraine but is assisting the international effort to document and collect atrocities allegations to see if that "legal threshold [of genocide] is met," said Ned Price. So why did Biden declare genocide? 1/2 pic.twitter.com/8rTLlCA4r8
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) April 13, 2022
In explaining why Biden said that, Price says “the president was speaking to the impression that he had garnered” after seeing the images and reports of atrocities in Ukraine 2/2
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) April 13, 2022
Biden’s mouth once again gets him at odds with the position of his own administration https://t.co/9GHMXXs4xf
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) April 13, 2022
Biden’s just calling it as he sees it … but wait for the official White House press release before quoting him.
Related:
Here’s another cleanup effort by the White House after President Biden (mis)speaks about Ukraine https://t.co/uW6OlTRwPG
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 29, 2022
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