They were titled ‘Tough Putin Q&A Talking Points’
US President Joe Biden‘s cheat sheet notes for discussing Russian leader Vladimir Putin have been caught on camera after the White House had to issue a clarification following his previous comments made in Poland on Saturday.
As reported by the likes of The Independent, Biden’s latest cheat sheet was spotted during a conference on Monday, when a photographer from the European Press Agency (EPA) captured the image of documents titled “Tough Putin Q&A Talking Points”.
Photograph captures Biden’s ‘cheat sheet’ notes as he tries to avoid repeating gaffe https://t.co/u5w46mseZg
— The Independent (@Independent) March 29, 2022
Upon closer examination, a list of bullet points can be seen which include possible questions and their potential responses, for example: “If you weren’t advocating for regime change, what did you mean? Can you clarify?”, followed by the answer: “I was expressing the moral outrage I felt towards the actions of this man. I was not articulating a change in policy.”
This is a line he read out almost verbatim.
Another question (partially obscured) posed the issue of whether or not America’s unity with NATO is being threatened by the situation in Ukraine, to which his answer read: “No, NATO has never been more united.”
While Biden insisted that he makes “no apologies” and would not be “walking back” any of his comments made last week which stated that Putin “cannot remain in power“, it appears as though his comms staff are now having to take measures to avoid such remarks from happening again.
This is not the first time Biden’s cheat sheet has been spotted, however. The 46th president reportedly gave his first official press conference with a similar shorthand and was seemingly caught doing the same just four months ago at the G20 Summit in Rome.
Among a number of so-called gaffes since he took up the Oval Office, including confusing Iran with Ukraine in his first State of the Union speech, many reports have suggested he regularly has a prepared list of reporters and questions seen in advance.
Related links:
- Awkward moment Joe Biden accidentally calls Kamala Harris ‘the first lady’ while still married to Jill
- James Bond wannabe among 620 Russian spies unmasked in shocking move against Putin
- Ukraine witches plan ritual to topple Putin in three days time
