3/28/22 - President Biden Plans To Focus Domestically This Week

Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:52 AM

President Biden returns from Europe and says he'll focus on domestic issues this week.

Warsaw, Poland - Just before leaving Europe, President Joe Biden went off script and off message and said, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power". He was speaking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continued bombing that is taking place there. He spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The line was not in Biden's prepared remarks said a White House official.

The White House afterward downplayed the remark: "The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a White House official said. "He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."

US officials had said previously that removing Putin from power was not their goal.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Biden, saying, "This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation."

Just before Pres. Biden was set to speak in Poland, an airstrike struck a fuel depot just outside Lviv, Ukraine -- about 200 miles away from where the President would speak.

Pres. Biden, standing along NATO's eastern edge, in Poland, issued a stern warning during his speech, telling Putin: "Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory." He said the US was committed to the collective protection obligations laid out in NATO's charter "with the full force of our collective power."

But Pres. Biden made clear the current conflict in Ukraine -- not a NATO member -- doesn't require America to become directly involved.

"American forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces, American forces are here to defend NATO," he said.

Biden opened his address saying that Ukraine is now a front line battle in the fight between autocracy and democracy, casting Russia's invasion of its neighbor as part of the decades-long battle that has played out between the West and the Kremlin.

"My message to the people of Ukraine is ... we stand with you. Period," said Biden.

3/28/22 - President Biden Plans To Focus Domestically This Week

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