CNN analyst Kimberly Dozier admonished President Joe Biden for appearing to call for regime change in Russia during his trip to Europe. Shortly after, White House officials to backtracked the president's remarks.
Biden stated in his remarks that Russian President Vladimir Putin can not remain in power. His words have been heavily criticized, as it only served to increase tensions between the U.S. and Russia as the war in Ukraine rages. It was later confirmed that Biden's remark was not included in his prepared speech.
"Well, I don’t think it’s obvious that regime change is not in the U.S. policy when he says something like that. It was indisciplined. It was a speech where the world was watching and Biden handed a gift to Russian propagandists," said Dozier. "It's been Putin's line all along that this isn't about Ukrainian sovereignty that really, this is the U.S. versus Russia and the U.S. wants to change the government. Now they have the statement that, for them, proves that."
Dozier added while other aspects of the Biden's trip was good, it has been ruined by him "saying something also that you are not prepared to follow through with. So, you know, as Putin remains in power year after year from here on out, it becomes a way of undermining Biden's power...so that's why I was disappointed in it."
Joel Rubin, who is a former deputy assistant Secretary of State during the Obama administration, said while Dozier made some "fair" points but insisted "Biden is a couple steps ahead on this whole situation."
Biden's remark about Putin staying in power was just the latest in a series of comments he made during the trip that left the White House scrambling to clean up. In another instance, the president told U.S. troops they would be going to Ukraine and that the U.S. would respond in kind if Russia uses chemical weapons.
Of course, Biden denied any of that occurred.
Today in a disaster of a press conference, Joe Biden played dumb about his administration's scramble to walk back several of his own comments.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 28, 2022
BIDEN: "NONE of the three occurred!"
Roll the tape. pic.twitter.com/kNnRBlbObr