Biden Chief Ron Klain Pushes Back on NBC’s Lester Holt Over Press Conference ‘Gaffes’: ‘The President Was Quite Clear’

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain pushed back at NBC News anchor Lester Holt’s assertion that President Joe Biden committed “gaffes” during Wednesday’s much-anticipated press conference.

On Thursday night’s edition of NBC Nightly News, during which he asked about the controversy surrounding Biden’s remarks about Russia and Ukraine during Wednesday’s marathon press conference.

“I think it’s fair to say the White House is pretty aggressively walked back or clarified or whatever you want to call the president’s comments about Ukraine and Russia, and whether the president was signaling that a minor incursion might be viewed through a different lens, whether the president meant to say that at the time or maybe he was being inarticulate,” Holt said, and asked “Can you afford any gaffes, given the stakes right now in all this?”

“Well, I think the president was quite clear, and reiterated his point of view this morning,” Klain said. “Very clearly, President [Vladimir] Putin should have no doubt any move by the Russian assembled military across the border of Ukraine is an invasion. It will be met with a very severe economic response from the United States and our allies.”

He added that Biden has “told that to President Putin directly. He reiterated it this morning. If President Putin makes this move, it will be a horrible mistake.”

Holt asked Klain if he would concede “at least that he was being inarticulate when he made the comments he did?”

Klain declined, telling Holt “Lester, What I offer is that he has made his views very clear to President Putin, has made his views clear to the allies.”

“There were some questions about the president’s answers yesterday as to whether the European partners are fully on board,” Holt said, and asked “Can you say with certainty that if the Russians crossed the border, that the US will be able to put in place the sanctions and the other measures that you’ve talked about?”

“Yes, we will move, again, if the Russians do make that move and we will have the support of our NATO allies,” Klain said.

Watch above via NBC News.

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