Biden calls Putin ‘Crazy SOB’

 President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” on Wednesday, ahead of what the White House says will be the unveiling of new sanctions against the country later this week.

Press pool reports shared the quote from Biden from his remarks at a campaign event in San Francisco as part of a fundraising swing in California with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others in attendance.

“This is the last existential threat, it is climate. We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate,” Biden said.

The White House said the Biden administration will unveil new sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as Russia’s two-year war in Ukraine.

Russian authorities said last week that Navalny, whom supporters insist was imprisoned on trumped-up charges, died at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony after he started to feel ill and lost consciousness.

Navalny’s family is now engaged in a clash with Russia to secure the release of his body.

Biden delivered remarks on Friday in which he said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “responsible” for the death of Navalny and called on Congress to approve more aid to Ukraine.

During the same campaign event on Wednesday, Biden took a swipe at former President Donald Trump for comparing himself to Navalny while discussing his legal fights that are playing out amid the 2024 campaign.

 

“If I stood here 10 to 15 years ago and said all this, you’d all think I should be committed,” Biden quipped. He also said the GOP once had an “American moral center, but that seems to be lost.”

At another point in his roughly 16 minutes of remarks, Biden reportedly took a moment to thank Pelosi, calling her his “boss” and saying they were able to pass significant legislation with her leadership.

“She is the best Speaker of the House I think there has ever been. Thank God she was mostly on our side,” Biden said. He then reportedly shifted to his re-election pitch, saying, “We have to do a lot more.”