Reporters Grill Biden After He Accuses Putin of ‘Genocide’: ‘Why?’ … ‘What More Did You Learn?’

Reporters grilled President Joe Biden on the tarmac in Iowa minutes after he accused Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin of committing “genocide.”

During a speech in Menlo, Iowa Tuesday, the president turned up the dial by saying, of Putin, “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away.”

As the president strode toward Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport afterward, reporters began shouting questions at him. Biden had ready responses:

Q Mr. President, what made you use the word “genocide” today?

Q Mr. President, have you seen enough evidence to declare genocide in Ukraine, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I called it genocide. It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being — being able to be Ukrainian.

And the amount — the evidence is mounting. It’s different than it was last week. The — more evidence is coming out of the — literally, the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine. And we’re going to only learn more and more about the devastation.

And we’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.

Thank you.

Q What more did you learn…

Press Wrangler: Thank you guys, let’s go guys, we’re gonna load…

This is the latest example of the president making news with a new assessment of Putin’s brutality. Just a few weeks ago, Biden touched off a firestorm when he said that Putin “cannot remain in power.”

That same day, he called Putin a “butcher.”

And on March 22, Biden called Putin a “war criminal” for the first time, after initially responding “No” when a reporter from Fox News, Jacqui Heinrich, asked him if Putin has earned that descriptor.

Watch above via C-Span.