Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, has once again had to take on the role of spin doctor to try and give some form of reason for the several recent instances in which President Joe Biden’s off the script statements threw the White House into panicked clean-up mode for those within the administration.
As stated in a press briefing that took place on Wednesday, Psaki commented that Biden was just making good on a promise from his campaign to “shoot from the shoulder.”
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
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“Jen, three times now the president has made comments about the war that the White House or he himself subsequently said did not reflect U.S. policy or a legal determination when he said Putin is a war criminal, when he said that Putin cannot remain in power, and of course, his comment about this being genocide in Ukraine,” stated the reporter.
“Does this not send a signal to the world that there kind of is an asterisk next to anything that the president says?” she posited.
“Well, when the president ran, he promised the American people he would ‘shoot from the shoulder,’ is his phrase that he often uses, and tell it to them straight,” claimed Psaki. “And his comments yesterday — not once but twice — and on war crimes, are an exact reflection of that.”
“I don’t think anybody is confused about the atrocities that we’re seeing on the ground, the horrors of what we’re seeing on the ground, and different leaders around the world describe it in different ways,” continued the press secretary. “But there is — what is unquestionable is what we’re seeing is horrific, the targeting of civilians, of hospitals, of — of even kids — and the president was calling it like he sees it, and that’s what he does.”
Biden’s recent comments, especially his claim that Putin “cannot remain in power,” brought about immediate questions as to whether or not Old Uncle Joe was outright advocating for a forced regime change within Russia.
His statements that Russian President Vladimir Putin was outright guilty of “war crimes” throughout Ukraine just created even more questions in regards to what the Biden administration was set to do in order to try and stop the Russian President.
To go along with all of the critics from within the United States, Biden’s statements have caused a few other foreign power leaders to weigh in. French President Emmanuel Macron called Biden out for his comments claiming that Putin was a “butcher,” seemingly suggesting that his statements would only provoke the Russian Pre4sident to further escalate the conflicts instead of attempting to negotiate at any point going forward.