CNN
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President Joe Biden known as Russian President Vladimir Putin “a loopy S.O.B.” in a fundraiser Wednesday in San Francisco, in line with the pool reporters touring with the US president.
“We now have a loopy S.O.B. that man, Putin, others. And we all the time need to be nervous a couple of nuclear battle. However the existential menace to humanity is local weather,” Biden informed these gathered on the fundraiser.
In response to Biden’s feedback, the Kremlin on Thursday mentioned they had been a “large shame” for the US.
Biden additionally criticized former President Donald Trump’s feedback likening his legal troubles to the demise of Russian opposition chief and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. The president paraphrased his predecessor’s feedback earlier than telling the attendees that “if I stood right here 10 to fifteen years in the past and mentioned all this, you’d all assume I needs to be dedicated.”
“He’s evaluating himself to Navalny and saying that as a result of our nation’s turn into a communist nation, he was persecuted, identical to Navalny was persecuted. The place the hell does this comes from,” Biden mentioned, in line with reporters within the room. “If I stood right here 10 to fifteen years in the past and mentioned all this, you’d all assume I needs to be dedicated. … It’s astounding.”
In stark distinction to Biden and different Western leaders, Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner, has but to sentence Russia or Putin for Navalny’s demise.
In current weeks, Trump has additionally indicated a number of instances that he would not defend a NATO nation from a Russian assault if the nation doesn’t meet spending pointers on protection — a remark Biden slammed as an “admission that he intends to provide Putin a inexperienced gentle for extra conflict and violence”
Trump “is making it clear that he’ll abandon our NATO allies,” Biden added following the previous president’s feedback earlier this month.
When requested in regards to the US president’s feedback by a reporter for state-owned community Russia 1, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned, “I can say that such impolite statements from the top of the U.S. state are unlikely to offend in any approach the top of one other nation, particularly President Putin however this can be a large shame for the nation, I imply for the US of America.”
“So, if the president of such a rustic makes use of such language, it needs to be shameful,” he added.
“Clearly, Mr. Biden is demonstrating conduct within the model of a Hollywood cowboy to cater to home political pursuits.”
At a second fundraiser in San Francisco, Biden known as Republicans in Congress the “social gathering of chaos and division” and mentioned they’re “worse” than Strom Thurmond, a former South Carolina senator who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948.
“I’ve been a senator since ‘72. I’ve served with actual racists. I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. I’ve served with all these guys which have set horrible information on race. However guess what? These guys are worse. These guys don’t imagine in primary democratic ideas,” Biden mentioned in line with the pool touring with him. “Again and again Republicans present they’re the social gathering of chaos and division.”
Biden additionally sought to attract additional distinction with Trump, telling attendees that 9 heads of state have informed him, “You’ve acquired to win” in November.
“As I stroll out of conferences, a head of state will discover an excuse to come back up shut … and say, ‘You’ve acquired to win.’ Not as a result of I’m so particular. ‘You’ve acquired to win as a result of my democracy is at stake if the opposite man wins.’ 9 heads of state have executed that with me,” Biden mentioned, in line with pool reporters.
Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended one of many fundraisers the place the president was launched by enterprise capitalist John Doerr, in line with the White Home.
Biden is anticipated to seem at one other marketing campaign occasion Thursday in Los Altos Hills, California, earlier than returning to the White Home within the night.
This story has been up to date with extra data.
CNN’s Kate Sullivan, Kaanita Iyer and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.