Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stood as an outlier on Sunday, defending President Joe Biden’s off-the-cuff remark that Vladimir Putin “can’t stay in power.”
“I’m not sure I would have put it back,” the first black DHS boss told NBC’s Meet the Press, claiming “everyone in the western world” supports the opinion.
Johnson added of Putin: “He is a war criminal. He slaughters innocent men, women and children. He entered Ukraine illegally. And he has command and control of nuclear weapons. Such a person should not remain in power.’
It comes as federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle scramble to downplay the president’s remarks, with some repeating existing US policy, while Republican Senator Jim Risch chided Biden for “sticking to the script.”
Risch called the comment a “terrible slip”.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said her people heard the president’s message “loud and clear.”
Biden appeared on Saturday to call for the removal of the Russian autocrat during an emotionally charged speech in Warsaw after a meeting with Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Kremlin’s brutal and unprovoked invasion.
“For God’s sake, that man can’t stay in power,” he said. “Nor will this fight be won in days or months. We must brace ourselves for the long battle that lies ahead.”
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was among a few foreign policy officials who stood by Biden’s remarks in Warsaw Saturday night, even as the White House tried to water them down
Jeh Johnson says Pres. Biden’s ad-lib on removing Russian Pres. Putin in power is “a statement of fact” and “everyone in the western world agrees”. #MTP #If it’s Sunday
“I would not have walked” pic.twitter.com/iePn46NDpa
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 27, 2022
The White House soon struggled to clarify that Biden was referring to Putin’s influence outside Russia’s borders and was not calling for regime change.
But the unwritten comment sparked a flurry of responses from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
GOP Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho said the president’s speechwriter did a “good job” but rapped Biden for improvisation during a television interview Sunday.
“This government has done everything to stop the escalation. There’s not much more you can do to escalate than call for regime change,” Risch said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“The White House tried to bring it back immediately. Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, tried to bring it back immediately. I’ll go back there now. That is not US policy. Please, Mr. President, stick to the script.’
He said regime change was an “existential” issue, adding to the speech: “Whoever wrote it did a good job, hit the right notes. And then to have that at the end, the sour note at the end, was unfortunate to say the least.”
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said it was “made very clear” that the president did not call for a ouster from power for Putin during an appearance on ABC’s This Week.
“We know the politics of our country. We know what it is. I think Vladimir Putin knows what it is and certainly our NATO allies and the Americans know what it is,” Klobuchar said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Jim Risch said Biden’s remark was a “horrible slip” and urged him to “stick to the script.”
“Please, Mr. President, stick to the script.”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) reacts to President Joe Biden saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power”. @DanaBashCNN The remark could create trouble in Ukraine as the US seeks to de-escalate the conflict. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/PcylOrnQ23
— CNN (@CNN) March 27, 2022
She added: “Vladimir Putin is a monster. But the position of the United States government is not to send troops there. It’s about getting as much help as possible to Ukraine.”
Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey echoed his colleague’s comments in retracting Biden’s speech.
“I think the administration has made it clear that the goal of the United States is not regime change in Russia. It defends the extraordinary people of Ukraine and helps them in what I believe is an existential fight, not just for their country but for free democracies around the world,” Booker told NBC’s Meet the Press.
However, when asked if he personally sees Putin still in power after his brutal invasion of Ukraine, Booker admitted he “can’t see this turning out well” for the autocrat.
“I don’t see a real win for him. His country is suffering greatly. He is exhausting his own nation’s critical resources for this terrible war. So I just don’t see how this is supposed to end well for him,” the New Jersey Democrat said.
Ohio Senator Rob Portman, a Republican, claimed Biden’s remark was a “mistake” that “plays into the hands of Russian propagandists and Vladimir Putin.”
“I think we all believe that the world would be a better place without Vladimir Putin. But… that’s not official US policy,” Portman also told Meet the Press.
A Ukrainian soldier stands in a heavily damaged building in Stoyanka, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27
People prepare sandbags to cover statues to protect cultural and historical heritage amid Russian attacks in Kyiv on March 27
Meanwhile, former Homeland Security chief Johnson, who worked with Biden under the Obama administration, claimed that much of the Western world agreed that Putin “can’t stay in power.”
At most I would have modified the statement by saying, ‘It’s not a statement of our policy, it’s just a statement of fact.’ But you know – I’d like to see us sometime, get to a place where we’re not constantly rejecting the line that we will not cross,” Johnson said Sunday.
The former official pointed to other notable instances of presidential improvisation, such as a speech by Ronald Reagan calling the former Soviet Union the “evil empire.”
Adding to Biden’s comment, “It was a statement of fact. Virtually everyone agrees. Everyone in the western world agrees.’
Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova told Meet the Press on Sunday, “We heard President Biden loud and clear.”
“We in Ukraine clearly understand that anyone who is a war criminal, who attacks a neighboring country, who commits all these atrocities together with all the Russians involved, definitely cannot stay in power in a civilized world,” Markarova said.
Following Biden’s speech in Warsaw on Saturday, a White House official clarified that Biden was not calling for regime change in Moscow as the Kremlin reacted with outrage at the US president.
“The President believed that Putin should not exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He didn’t talk about Putin’s power in Russia or regime change,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s response was dangerously vague.
At #MTP: Ambassador of Ukraine Oksana Markarova heard Pres. Biden’s remarks on ousting Russian President Putin ‘loud and clear’ @Omarkarova: Putin’s actions are a “brutal attempt at genocide to eliminate or annihilate [the] Ukrainian nation, but also an attack on democracy.” pic.twitter.com/HI38mmuftQ
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 27, 2022
“This will not be decided by Mr. Biden,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response. “It should only be a decision of the people of the Russian Federation.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US is not seeking “regime change” in Moscow or anywhere else in the world.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Blinken said his boss is likely referring to Putin’s influence outside his country.
“I think the President, the White House, indicated last night that President Putin simply cannot be authorized to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone,” Blinken said, according to multiple reports.
“As you know, and as you hear us say repeatedly, we have no strategy for regime change in Russia – or anywhere else.”
The US chief diplomat spoke at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.