President Biden took questions at a White House event today on the budget, but reporters seemed more interested in his remarks from over the weekend when he said Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power. Today, the president said he was not articulating a policy change, rather he was expressing “the moral outrage I feel, and I make no apologies for it.”
“I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward this man,” Mr. Biden told reporters, rejecting criticism that he misspoke. He said no one should have interpreted his comments as calling for Mr. Putin’s ouster.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said, clearly irritated at the questions during an event in which he unveiled his 2023 budget. “Nobody believes I was talking about taking down Putin. Nobody believes that.”
“I was expressing my outrage that he shouldn’t remain in power,” he said, “just like you know that bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things.”