During a press conference Wednesday following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Biden snapped at a reporter after she asked how he could be confident the Russian leader would “change his behavior” given his denial of human rights abuses against Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and others, his refusal to admit even partial responsibility for the Russian cyber attack on a major U.S. oil pipeline, and his tepid commitment to improving U.S.-Russia relations generally.
Biden barked back, “I’m not confident he’s going to change his behavior. What the hell? … when did I say I was confident?”
“Look, let’s get it straight. What I said was what will change his behavior if the rest of the world reacts to him and diminishes his standing in the world,” he added after the reporter, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, clarified her question.
Collins responded by pointing out that Putin refused to give ground on the issues that Biden said they would be discussing during their meeting, and argued that Putin’s history suggests he won’t be changing his behavior anytime soon.
“If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business,” Biden shot back.
The president also fielded questions earlier about a comment Putin made about the Russian regime’s targeting of opposition leaders.
During his press briefing, Putin said his government only cracks down on foreign agents as a means to prevent domestic disturbances that threaten homeland security, citing the January 6 Capitol Riot episode and the formation of dangerous organizations like Black Lives Matter as examples. Biden said, “That’s a ridiculous comparison,” when the reporter referenced Putin’s claim.
Biden added that there’s a stark difference between criminals storming a government building, violently assaulting law enforcement, and destroying property and peaceful demonstrators marching and exercising their right to free expression.
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