Biden Says Putin Is 'Clearly Losing the War in Iraq' Days After Wagner Revolt (June 28, 2023)

Days after a mercenary revolt rocked Russia, President Joe Biden was asked how much Vladimir Putin had been weakened. His answer: “It’s hard to tell, but he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq.” The White House later corrected the transcript to say Ukraine.

The video above shows the slip from Biden’s exchange with reporters on the South Lawn on June 28, 2023, as he left for an economic speech in Chicago. Quotes are from the official White House transcript published by the American Presidency Project, which marks the correction in brackets [1][2].

”Clearly Losing the War in Iraq”

Reporters shouted questions as Biden headed for Marine One. “Mr. President, has Putin been weakened by what happened in Russia?” one asked. “Absolutely,” Biden said [1].

“To what extent has Vladimir Putin been weakened by recent events?” another asked.

“It’s hard to tell, but he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq [Ukraine; White House correction],” Biden said. “He’s losing the war at home. And he has become a bit of a pariah around the world. And it’s not just NATO; it’s not just the European Union. It’s Japan. It’s—you know, it’s 40 nations” [1].

Asked again whether Putin was weaker than before, Biden answered: “I know he was—is” [1].

Days After the Wagner Revolt

The questions came on the heels of the weekend revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin [3]. Reporters asked Biden whether Prigozhin had been “looking to capture military leaders.” “That remains to be seen,” Biden said [1].

Two days earlier, Biden’s own national security spokesman had been more careful about Putin. Asked whether Putin was weakened, John Kirby said the administration was “focused on what’s going on in Ukraine,” called it “an internal Russian matter” and added: “Mr. Putin still commands a very large and a very capable military, and the bulk of that military is across the border in Ukraine” [3].

Kirby said the United States had told allies and the Russians “that the United States was not involved and would not get involved in these events,” and he quoted the president: “This is an internal matter for the Russian system” [3].

”No!” on Hunter’s Message

The Iraq slip was not the only moment from that walk to the helicopter that made news. New York Post reporter Steven Nelson pressed Biden about a WhatsApp message his son Hunter had sent a Chinese business partner, Fox News reported [4].

“President Biden, how involved—President Biden, how involved were you in your son’s ‘Chinese shakedown’ text message? Were you sitting there?” the reporter asked, according to the transcript. “No, I wasn’t. And I don’t know——” Biden began. Pressed again, he said: “No!” [1]

The message, dated July 30, 2017, had come out days earlier in IRS whistleblower testimony released by the House Ways and Means Committee. In it, Hunter Biden wrote to Henry Zhao of Harvest Fund Management: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled” [5]. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had fielded questions about the same message, as HYGO News reported in its page on her answers.

Not the First Time

It was not the first time Biden swapped Iraq for Ukraine. At a Social Security event in Hallandale Beach, Florida, before the 2022 midterms, he blamed inflation on “a war in Iraq,” then corrected himself to Ukraine and said, “I’m thinking of Iraq because that’s where my son died” [7], as HYGO News detailed in its page on that speech.

Tuberville and “Bidenomics”

The exchange opened with a different fight. A reporter told Biden that Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., was “not budging on Pentagon promotions.” “He’s not budging on it, as I understand, from my colleagues. It’s totally inappropriate. It’s outrageous,” Biden said. Told that Tuberville argued the Defense Department should not be paying for abortion travel, Biden shot back: “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about” [1].

Another reporter pressed him on the war itself: “Why not engage with Russia in meaningful talks to try to deescalate the whole situation in Ukraine? You’re sending F-16s, sir.” The transcript records no answer [1].

Biden was also asked about “Bidenomics,” the label for his economic agenda. “Well, look, you guys branded it. I didn’t,” he said. When a reporter noted that his own economic team was using it, Biden insisted, “The first time it was used was in the Wall Street Journal,” then added: “I like it. It’s fine. Yes, it’s fine, because it is my policy” [1]. He was headed to Chicago to deliver a speech on the economy that afternoon [2].

By the Numbers

2 days: the gap between Kirby’s warning that Putin “still commands a very large and a very capable military” and Biden’s “Iraq” answer [1][3].
40: the number of nations Biden cited in the same answer [1].
July 30, 2017: the date of Hunter Biden’s WhatsApp message to Henry Zhao [5].
2: times Biden said “no” when asked if he was involved in the message [1].

What Happened Next

Prigozhin didn’t last. Two months later, on Aug. 23, 2023, a private plane reportedly carrying Prigozhin crashed outside Moscow. “You may recall when I was asked about this by you, I said I’d be careful what I drink and what I rode in,” Biden told reporters in South Lake Tahoe, California. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I am not surprised” [6].

The war went on. Two weeks after the South Lawn exchange, Biden was in Helsinki, telling a Finnish reporter that America’s commitment to NATO was “rock solid,” in an exchange HYGO News covered on its page from that trip.