words? rich: but the white house has left clarifying president biden s major pronouncement. it s putin, it s vladimir putin who is to blame, period. rich: in a major speech in poland at the doorstep of russian aggression, president biden verbally tore down vladimir putin assailing him for invasion of ukraine and the president encouraged the world s democracies and warned autocrat against moving on premier offensive alliance. don t even think about moving on one single inch of nato territory. the president s most powerful and lasting declaration in this address that putin cannot remain in power needed a major clarification from an unnamed white house official. quote, the president s point was that putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. he was not discussing putin s power in russia or regime change. that follows confusion over the
seek a peaceful resolution, which is why the u.s. has been so reluctant, for instance, to put troops on the ground, to issue a no-fly zone over ukraine, anything that would be escalatory. he said putin can t be allowed to exert that kind of control over countries in the region. then secretary of state antony blinken had this to say about biden s comments. watch. i think president, the white house, made the point last night that, quite simply, president putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else. as you know, and as you ve heard us say repeatedly, we do not
cannot remain in power. you know, arlette, the white house quickly tried to clarify those remarks. what s the latest on that? there s a lot of americans throughout who agree with what the president said yesterday. that vladimir putin shouldn t remain in power. cannot remain in power given what he s done? reporter: yeah, jim. these remarks from president biden were very carefully crafted. the white house was hoping he would lay out the stakes of what is going on in ukraine. but with just nine words, president biden went completely off-script and really the spotlight has now been shining on those words alone. aides surprised. not initially in the president s remarks. pretty soon after, even before president biden departed from poland, the white house was seeking to clarify what he meant. that is something that was also reiterated by the secretary of state antony blinken this morning. take a live.
to a deal. after making those offers in an interview to russian journalists on sunday, though, the russian government banned it from being published. the major question this morning remains how all of this may be impacted by president biden s words delivered saturday at the tail end of a successful international trip in which he said off the cuff that president putin can t remain in power. secretary of state antony blinken tried to clarify those remarks sunday. i think the president, the white house made the point last night that, quite simply, president putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else. as you know, and as you heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in russia or anywhere else for that matter. this morning, a spokesman for the kremlin described president biden s remarks as, quote,
up to the people of the country in question, up to the russian people. straight away, alette, at the white house, how is this playing out in washington dc? reporter: hey, don, that speech by president biden in poland was carefully crafted by the white house, they hoped the president would lake out the stake stakes regarding russia s invasion ninto ukraine, but president biden went completely off-script surprising many of his own aides making that comment and forcing the white house to try to clarify what he meant and questions have followed president biden back here to washington. just a short while ago, leaving mass in george town, here in washington dc was asked about his comments. take a listen. mr. president, do you want putin to removed? mr. president, were you calling for regime change?