President Joe Biden is drawing scrutiny for the way he addressed CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini Thursday in Brussels, Belgium following a meeting with NATO leaders.
Biden was answering a question about whether sanctions imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin were working to deter him from continuing to invade Ukraine.
“Sir, deterrents did not work,” she said. “What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today?”
“Let’s get something straight. You remember, if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say in fact the sanctions would deter him,” Biden said. “Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter.”
The President’s answer was in direct contrast to what Vice President Kamala Harris said was the purpose of the sanctions imposed at the beginning of the invasion.
“Purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence,” Harris said in February.
“The maintenance of sanctions, increasing the pain and the demonstration [is] why I asked for this NATO meeting today, is to be sure that after a month, we will sustain what we’re doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year,” Biden said.
Biden has had multiple run-ins with members of the White House Press Corps over the past several months. In January, Biden called Fox News White Correspondent Peter Doocy a stupid son of a b–h” following a question about inflation.
