Vice President Kamala Harris avoided answering whether or not she agrees with President Joe Biden’s call last weekend for a Russian regime change, giving a two-minute non-answer Friday on MSNBC.
Harris, 57, dodged answering host Joy Reid’s question about if the VP ‘agreed’ with Biden that ‘Vladimir Putin should no longer be the leader of Russia.’
Biden, 79, made an off-the-cuff remark in Warsaw, Poland, appearing to call for a regime change in Moscow, saying last Saturday: ‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.’ Biden later said the shocking comments were his personal opinion and not a policy change.
The unscripted remark, which the White House scrambled to walk back as the Kremlin expressed fury, came at the end of an otherwise resolute and fiery speech rallying the free world to unite in opposition to autocracy and support Ukraine.
Now, the VP finds herself in the hot seat about what she thinks, telling Reid Friday: ‘Listen, I think you frame the point quite accurately and well, which is America’s policy has been and will continue to be focused on the real issue at hand.’
She said the humanitarian and security assistance were the ‘needs of the Ukrainian people’ and that Putin would face a consequence for the invasion.
‘There are serious consequences for Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression as it relates to Ukraine,’ she continued.
The VP avoided giving a straight answer on her personal opinion of Putin’s continued leadership in Russia, but instead focused on the ‘impacts’ the Biden administration has made toward Russia, including imposing sanctions.
‘Which is why our policy from the beginning has been about ensuring that there are going to be real costs exacted against Russia in the form of severe sanctions, which are having a real impact and immediate impact, not to mention the longer term impact, which is about saying there is going to be consequence and accountability when you commit the kinds of atrocities that he is committing,’ she went on, avoiding answering the question – although she eventually told Reid: ‘We are not into regime change and that is not our policy.’
Click here to read more.
Source: Daily Mail
BCNN1 WP 