President Biden ’s remark that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” reverberated throughout Washington on Sunday, with some current and former officials and lawmakers …
President Biden ’s remark that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” reverberated throughout Washington on Sunday, with some current and former officials and lawmakers scrutinizing the reported ad-lib while others slammed the White House for its subsequent walk-back. Biden turned heads on Saturday when, at the end of a speech in Warsaw, he said “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” The White House quickly tried to walk back the comment, claiming that Biden was referring to Putin exercising power outside of Russia, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that the U.S. has no plans for regime change in Moscow. The forcefully-delivered comment, however, still attracted a fair amount of criticism, with one Republican lawmaker on Sunday imploring the president to stay on script. “He gave a good speech at the end, but as you pointed out already, there was a horrendous gaffe right at the end of it,” Sen. James Risch (Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I wish he would stay on script. Whoever wrote that speech did a good job for him. But my gosh, I wish they would keep him on script,” Risch added. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) sounded a similar note, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Biden’s speech was “very strong, despite the ad-lib at the end, and the gaffe at the end.
