Russia Calls Biden's Comments 'Churlish'

President Biden is on the campaign trail, and on Wednesday night he appeared at a San Francisco fundraiser, with rhetoric on a past and current president at the ready. Speaking mostly about environmental concerns at the event, Biden suddenly shifted gears to go on the attack against Russia's leader, reports Politico. "We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate," Biden said, according to pool reports. The Kremlin soon responded, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov slamming Biden's "churlish" comments and calling them a "huge shame" for the US, per the AP.

"Clearly, Mr. Biden behaves in the Hollywood cowboy style to serve internal political interests," Peskov added. Biden has hurled names at Putin before, calling him "a killer, a pure thug, a war criminal, and a butcher," per the Guardian. But Biden wasn't done with the barbs, next poking at his main rival in the 2024 election, Donald Trump. The current president took aim at the former president's recent statements comparing his legal troubles to the plight of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. "I don't know where the hell this comes from," Biden said of that comparison. "I mean, if I stood here 10, 15 years ago and said any of this, you'd all think I should be committed."

The president added that he's had at least "nine heads of state" approach him at various times to tell him he's got to win in November—"not because I'm so special," but "because my democracy is at stake if the other guy wins." Trump's team issued its own response to Biden's remarks. "Crooked Joe Biden is saying the quiet part out loud," a Trump spokesperson said in a statement, per Politico. "He should be committed because of the total failure he has been for this country, and the misery and destruction he has caused." Biden did have some nice words for at least one politician during his speaking engagement: Nancy Pelosi was in attendance for Biden's speech, and he made sure to let her know she was the "best [House] speaker there has ever been," per Politico. (More President Biden stories.)