Joe Biden snapped at a reporter during a joint meeting with UK PM Keir Starmer at the White House on Friday. Ahead of opening the meeting, when Biden came to deliver his address, a reporter asked him about Vladimir Putin's recent threat of a war against the NATO allies of Ukraine. As the reporter asked the POTUS about Putin's comment, Biden scolded the reporter saying, 'Keep quiet until I speak.'
“I say you be quiet until I speak. Okay? That’s what I say. Good idea?” Biden said. However, the journalist asked the question again, and Biden again responded by asking to keep quiet.
According to a report by the New York Post, the journalist seemed to be from the British Press Corps, who had accompanied Starmer to the US. The journalist was most likely not aware that the White House custom is that the president first delivers his address, and then the reporters can ask questions.
As reported by The New York Post, the journalist again asked the question on Russia after the president had delivered his speech. This time, Biden did answer, saying that he did not "think much" of Putin.
"I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin,” Biden said.
Putin's Threat To NATO Allies
There have been talks about the US lifting the sanctions on Ukraine's use of US-supplied long-range missiles on Russia. Amid that, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that lifting the restrictions would mean that US and other NATO allies of Ukraine will effectively be at war with Russia.
“And if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us,” Putin said. He added that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.”
When Biden was asked by reporters at the White House Friday about the US's plans for easing restrictions on Ukraine's use of US-supplied weapons, Biden said that the US is working on it.