Jen Psaki’s Blunt Answer When Reporter Asks ‘Why Doesn’t President Biden Want To Talk To Vladimir Putin Right Now?’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had a pretty blunt response when a reporter asked “Why doesn’t President Biden want to talk to Vladimir Putin right now?”

Thanks to often-harrowing live video and blanket news coverage from inside Ukraine — especially by correspondents from CNN —  the violent and terrifying Russian invasion has been chillingly brought into America’s living rooms, and placed the conflict front and center in the minds of the media.

At Friday’s press briefing, the lion’s share of the questions Psaki took were about Ukraine and Russia, and while many required lengthy and complicated replies, one exchange — with Politico White House correspondent Daniel Lippman — stood out for its relative simplicity:

MR. LIPPMAN: Why doesn’t President Biden want to talk to Vladimir Putin right now?

MS. PSAKI: Because he’s invading a sovereign country.

MR. LIPPMAN: But he — isn’t he going to be potentially invading that for years on end?

MS. PSAKI: Well, I would say that a moment where a leader is beginning and in the middle of invading a sovereign country is not the moment where diplomacy feels appropriate. It does not mean we have ruled out diplomacy forever. Obviously, the President remains open to engaging on — at a leader-to-leader level, but this is not the moment.

Psaki was later asked a follow-up, “should we take what you said earlier in your answer to mean that the President won’t speak with Putin unless Putin de-escalates or withdraws?”

“Well, again, it’s not the appropriate moment right now. I can’t give you — I’m not going to give you a ‘forever and ever’ because that’s not how he feels,” Psaki said of the president.

“But they’re actively invading Ukraine. They are moving on the capital. They are looking to overturn leadership. This is not the moment for President Biden to have a diplomatic conversation with President Putin,” Psaki said.

Watch above via NBC News and C-Span.

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