Sen. Jim Risch urges Biden to stay on script after gaffe fuels global uproar

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho said Sunday that President Biden made a “horrendous gaffe” with his ad-lib about Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that the White House needs to do a better job of keeping the president on script.

Mr. Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, referred to Mr. Biden’s speech on Saturday in Warsaw that ended with the president saying Mr. Putin “cannot remain in power,” sparking international speculation over whether the president was announcing a major foreign-policy shift.

The administration immediately walked back the remark, insisting that Mr. Biden was not referring to regime change.

“He gave a good speech … but as you’ve pointed out already, there was a horrendous gaffe right at the end of it,” Mr. Risch said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I wish he would stay on script. Whoever wrote that speech did a good job for him, but my gosh, I wish they would keep him on script.”

He said the off-the-cuff comment could cause a “huge problem” for the administration as it pursues its foreign-policy goals.

“I think most people who don’t deal in the lane of foreign relations don’t realize those nine words that he uttered would cause the kind of eruption that they did,” Mr. Risch said. “But any time you say or even as he did suggest that the policy was regime change, it’s going to cause a huge problem.”

“Please, Mr. President, stay on script.”

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) reacts to President Joe Biden saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” telling @DanaBashCNN the remark could cause problems in Ukraine as the US tries to de-escalate the conflict. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/PcylOrnQ23

— CNN (@CNN) March 27, 2022

The speech came at the end of the president’s four-day trip to Europe to meet with allies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.