Biden turned his head on Saturday when, at the end of a speech in Warsaw, Poland, he said, “In the name of God, this man can not remain in power.” The White House quickly sought to withdraw the comment, claiming that Biden was referring to Putin in power outside Russia and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken Anthony Blinken was gathering allies against Russia. Biden meets top Ukrainian officials in Poland MORE confirmed that the US has no plans for regime change in Moscow. The strong comment, however, continued to attract much criticism, with a Republican lawmaker on Sunday begging the president to stay on the script. “He gave a good speech at the end, but as you already pointed out, there was a horrible blunder right at the end,” Sen. James Risch (Idaho), a leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. “Status of the Union”. “I wish he stayed in the script. Whoever wrote this speech did a good job. “But oh my God, I wish they kept him in the script,” Reese added. Senator Rob PortmanRobert (Rob) Jones PortmanSunday presents a preview: US and allies increase pressure on Russia. Jackson undergoes confirmation hearings Jackson faces growing GOP opposition in Supreme Court Business groups fight China’s anti-dumping bills MORE Biden was “very strong, despite the ad-lib at the end and the blunder at the end.” The Biden administration continued to clear the issue on Sunday, with US Ambassador to NATO Julian Smith telling CNN’s “State of the Union” that “the United States has no policy of regime change in Russia, dude.” Pressing on whether Biden’s comment was wrong, Smith said the remark was “a humane reaction to principles” by the president, who earlier that day had heard stories of Ukrainian refugees in Poland fleeing their war-torn country. For some, the departure was worse than Biden’s statement. MP Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) Told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures that Biden’s apparent “overthrow” was “damaging to his credibility.” “And the general must be taken seriously. “I do not think he has been taken seriously at the moment,” Waltz said, adding that the deteriorating credibility of the president’s other blunders was “detrimental to our ability to deter Putin.” Waltz said he agreed with Biden that “this assassination attempt will continue as long as Putin is in charge,” but disagreed with the president on whether the US or the West wanted to bring about change. He said such an attitude “feeds Putin’s propaganda machine” and “could actually fail to make Putin stronger internally”, stressing that change must come from the Russian people. Former Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Joe Johnson also fired a shot at the apparent White House crackdown, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he may not have backed down. “He is a war criminal. It slaughters innocent men, women and children. He invaded Ukraine illegally. And it has the command and control of nuclear weapons. “Such a person should not remain in power,” Johnson said, adding that Putin had “more than lost his legitimacy.” The former head of internal security said he would have modified the remark by saying “it is not a statement of our policy, it is just a statement of fact”. Biden’s unwritten remark turns heads in Russia as well. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told Reuters “this is not Biden’s decision to decide” whether Putin would remain in power, adding: “The president of Russia is elected by the Russians.” “This speech – and the passages about Russia – is amazing, to use polite words,” he added. “He does not understand that the world is not limited to the United States and most of Europe.” The publicity stunt came at the end of a 27-minute speech in Warsaw that concluded Biden’s trip to Europe, which focused on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The military offensive entered its second month this week with no signs of slowing down, although Moscow’s efforts have stalled in some areas due to strong Ukrainian opposition. Smith said Sunday that last week was “historic” and described Biden’s speech as “absolutely perfect.” He added that the meetings “set us on a good path to continue to support our allies, to support the Ukrainians and to put pressure on Russia to stop this war.”
