JUST IN: White House Says Biden Will Give Press Conference After Putin Meeting — Without Putin

Joe Giddens – WPA Pool/Getty Images

When President Joe Biden wraps up his overseas trip by meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he will follow that summit with a full press conference — without Putin.

The White House had already announced that there would be no joint press conference between the two leaders, but on Saturday, they announced that President Biden will, in fact, conduct a full press conference following the summit.

“While we are still finalizing the format for the meeting with President Putin and his delegation, we can confirm a few details, including the plan for both a working session and a smaller session, as well as a solo press conference by President Biden following the meeting,” a White House official said.

“We expect this meeting to be candid and straightforward and a solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting—both in terms of areas where we may agree and in areas where we have significant concerns,” the official said.

Multiple members of the press have expressed concern that a meeting between the president and Putin might send the “wrong messge” to Russia, but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been consistent in pushing back on that idea.

“Now, we have made clear repeatedly, and I will reinforce again today, that we do not regard a meeting with the Russian president as a reward.  We regard it as a vital part of defending America’s interests and America’s values.  Joe Biden is not meeting with Vladimir Putin despite our countries’ differences; he’s meeting with him because of our countries’ differences.  There is simply a lot we have to work through,” Psaki said earlier this week, and reiterated the sentiment in an interview with Jake Tapper on Friday.

In that light, a solo press conference is a very clear signal to Putin and the world that this will have been no chummy confab.

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