John Kirby Brushes Off Martha Raddatz’s Grilling Over Biden’s ‘Really Frightening’ Armageddon Comment
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby brushed off Martha Raddatz’s concern about what she called “really frightening” comments on nuclear Armageddon that President Joe Biden made this week.
At a fundraiser this week, Biden said:
Let me put it this way. Think about it: We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. We’ve got a guy I know fairly well; his name is Vladimir Putin. I spent a fair amount of time with him. He is not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical and nuclear weapons, or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.
It’s part of Russian doctrine that they will not — they will not — if the motherland is threatened, they’ll use whatever force they need, including nuclear weapons.
I don’t think there’s any such thing as an ability to easily lose a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.
So there’s a lot at stake — a lot at stake.
On Sunday’s edition of ABC’s This Week, Raddatz kicked off her interview with Kirby by calling Biden’s remarks “very frightening” and asking him “was he right?”
Kirby replied that Biden was “accurately reflecting” the situation, but brushed away concern about any elevated posture and pointed the finger at Vladimir Putin, not Biden, as the source of “irresponsible rhetoric”:
RADDATZ: Let’s start with President Biden’s comments saying we are facing the potential of a nuclear Armageddon. I know The White House has said these are consistent with comments he has used in the past but he’s never said anything quite as stark as this. So, is the president right? Are we facing a potential nuclear Armageddon?
JOHN KIRBY, NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: The president was reflecting the very high stakes that are in — in play right now, Martha. When you have a modern nuclear power and the leader of that modern nuclear power willing to use irresponsible rhetoric the way that Mr. Putin has several times in just the last week or two, as well as the high tensions in Ukraine over just the course of the last few days. So the president, I think, was accurately reflecting the fact that the stakes are very high right now.
RADDATZ: And he gets a daily intelligence briefing, military updates from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs so are the statements the result of what he has heard or his own conclusions, because those were really frightening comments?
KIRBY: His comments were not based on new or fresh intelligence or new indications that Mr. Putin has made a decision to use nuclear weapons and, quite frankly, we don’t have indication that he has made that kind of decision, Martha. Nor have we seen anything that would give us pause to reconsider our own strategic nuclear posture in our efforts to defend our own national security interests or those of our allies and partners.
What the president was reflecting was that the stakes are high right now given what’s going on on the battlefield in Ukraine and given the very irresponsible and reckless comments made by Vladimir Putin in just the last few days.
Now, look, he’s also said we’re not going to be intimidated. Neither we nor our allies are going to be intimidated by this and we’re going to continue to provide support and security assistance to Ukraine as is necessary.
Watch above via ABC’s This Week.
