President Joe Biden attempted to upstage former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign announcement Tuesday night by responding to a deadly explosion on Poland’s eastern border.
The president spoke for about three minutes to reporters about the international incident, which Poland first described as a Russian-made missile that killed two people.
He spoke just minutes before 9:00 p.m. EST, the scheduled time for Trump’s announcement.
Biden appeared to express doubt that the missile was fired by the Russians but cautioned he would wait until a full investigation is completed.
“I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate, but it is — it’s unlikely, in the lines of the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Biden on if the missile that landed in Poland was fired from Russia:
“There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate it. …it’s unlikely in the minds of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see.” pic.twitter.com/8ZNBMKSJ7i
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) November 16, 2022
Biden spoke cautiously about the meeting, reading from his notecards.
He said he would wait to act until the event is fully investigated.
“I’m going to make sure we find out exactly what happened,” Biden said. “And then we’re going to collectively determine our next step as we investigate.”
Trump was more forceful about the event during his campaign announcement speech, telling his supporters that the missile “was sent in probably by Russia.”
Biden spoke to reporters after he convened an emergency meeting of G7 and NATO leaders to discuss the incident.
Although he brought in reporters for a 30-second photo op, he declined to address the press about the incident until after the meeting was concluded.
