Biden snaps at reporter, telling her she might not 'go home tonight'
- last year
'You can't guarantee if you will make it home tonight': Biden's creepy response to female reporter when she asked about America's 'political instability'
Joe Biden told a Finnish reporter who questioned him at a press conference in Helsinki that she might not make it home that night.
The president was reflecting on uncertainty and his sense of fatalism while fielding a question about NATO's newest member, Finland, which sits just 70 miles from Russia.
'We will stand together,' he said at a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, after the country had rushed to join the alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
No one can guarantee the future. But this is the best bet anyone can make,' he qualified.
After he had finished answering the question – about whether political divisions in the U.S. might in the future undermine whatever commitments Biden makes – he returned to his statement of mutual commitment and collective defense, which is enshrined in the NATO Charter.
He did so even as the Finnish president began answering a similar question.
'Let me be clear,' Biden told Lida Tikka, the D.C. correspondent of Finnish public broadcaster YLE. 'I didn't say... we couldn't guarantee the future. You can't tell me whether you're going to be able to go home tonight. No one can be sure what they're going to do.
'I'm saying as sure as anything could possibly be said about American foreign policy, we will stay connected to NATO, connected to NATO beginning middle and end. We're a a transatlantic partnership.'
When he was done, the Finnish president appended: 'It seems the President has solved your problems.
'I have no reason to doubt about USA policies in the future,' added Niinisto.
Biden had to ask his questioner to repeat her inquiry, after she referenced a bipartisan bill by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to prevent a president from withdrawing from NATO without congressional approval.
Biden had earlier stated that 'the United States is committed to Finland, committed to NATO and those commitments are rock solid.'
He vowed to protect 'every inch of NATO territory, and that includes Finland, obviously,' he said.
Joe Biden told a Finnish reporter who questioned him at a press conference in Helsinki that she might not make it home that night.
The president was reflecting on uncertainty and his sense of fatalism while fielding a question about NATO's newest member, Finland, which sits just 70 miles from Russia.
'We will stand together,' he said at a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, after the country had rushed to join the alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
No one can guarantee the future. But this is the best bet anyone can make,' he qualified.
After he had finished answering the question – about whether political divisions in the U.S. might in the future undermine whatever commitments Biden makes – he returned to his statement of mutual commitment and collective defense, which is enshrined in the NATO Charter.
He did so even as the Finnish president began answering a similar question.
'Let me be clear,' Biden told Lida Tikka, the D.C. correspondent of Finnish public broadcaster YLE. 'I didn't say... we couldn't guarantee the future. You can't tell me whether you're going to be able to go home tonight. No one can be sure what they're going to do.
'I'm saying as sure as anything could possibly be said about American foreign policy, we will stay connected to NATO, connected to NATO beginning middle and end. We're a a transatlantic partnership.'
When he was done, the Finnish president appended: 'It seems the President has solved your problems.
'I have no reason to doubt about USA policies in the future,' added Niinisto.
Biden had to ask his questioner to repeat her inquiry, after she referenced a bipartisan bill by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to prevent a president from withdrawing from NATO without congressional approval.
Biden had earlier stated that 'the United States is committed to Finland, committed to NATO and those commitments are rock solid.'
He vowed to protect 'every inch of NATO territory, and that includes Finland, obviously,' he said.