After a much anticipated and hyped federal investigation and intelligence report into 'Russia-linked cyber attacks' found (gasp... or rather entirely as expected in yet the latest repackaged iteration of long deflated Russiagate) the Kremlin mounted an online 'interference' campaign related to the 2020 election, President Biden said in a bombshell ABC News interview that he agrees Vladimir Putin is a "killer" and that he's going to pay a price. CNN reports sanctions are likely coming, specifically targeting "people close to Russia President Vladimir Putin as soon as next week."
Here's the key part of the pre-recorded interview with George Stephanopoulos which aired early Wednesday:
Asked whether he believes Mr Putin is a "killer" in a pre-taped interview that aired on Wednesday, the president responded: "I do."
"The price he’s going to pay, you’ll see shortly," he said.
Mr Biden recalled meeting Mr Putin, during which he reportedly told him that he "doesn’t have a soul": "I wasn’t being a wise guy."
"He looked back at me and said, 'We understand each other'," Mr Biden said.
EXCLUSIVE: Pres. Biden told @GStephanopoulos that he agreed Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "killer" and will "pay a price" for interfering in U.S. elections. https://t.co/rIe2ms8sSv pic.twitter.com/VtAGCvF9hp — Good Morning America (@GMA) March 17, 2021
"I know him relatively well," Biden had introduced the comments with, and added that "the most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience... is just know the other guy."
This past conversation wherein Biden says he told the Russian president he doesn't think he has a soul has echoes with the 2001 face-to-face meeting between George W. Bush and Putin.
Bush came to the opposite conclusion at the time: "I looked the man in the eye...I was able to get a sense of his soul," according to that famous and widely mocked moment of Bush's soul-gazing...
read more:
Replies