(RoyalPatriot.com )- The White House was scrambling earlier this week after President Joe Biden issued comments regarding Russia potentially invading Ukraine.
Biden said the response the United States would issue would depend on how severe Russia’s actions were.
To clarify those comments, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, issued a statement that read:
“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.
“President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response”
The White House swiftly issued that statement, within one hour of Biden finishing up a press conference. At that news conference, the president said Russia would be held “accountable” if they invaded Ukraine. However, he said what response the United States would issue would depend on the nature of the actions taken by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
As the news conference was still taking place, Emily Horne, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, issued a tweet attempting to clarify Biden’s comment, saying the president was talking about the difference between “military and non-military/para-military/cyber action by the Russians.”
When the president was questioned about how the U.S. would hold Russia accountable for a potential invasion, he said:
“Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.
“But, if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.”
Immediately after Biden said those comments, Republican lawmakers attacked, saying the president was giving Putin and the Russians the OK to go ahead and attack Ukraine — as long as it was only a “minor incursion.”
What was even worse was that Biden didn’t change his answer much at all when he was directly asked whether he was giving the Russian president permission to invade Ukraine if it could be classified as a “minor incursion.”
A reporter asked Biden whether Russia would be able to avoid any severe sanctions that the United States has threatened to levy on them. The president’s response was:
“I think we will if there’s something that is — where there’s Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera. I think that changes everything. But, it depends on what he does.”
Officials with the White House have continuously said in recent weeks that they are very concerned that Russia may soon invade Ukraine.
This follows talks between the U.S., its allies and Russia didn’t produce much progress in diverting a potential path to a war.
