President Joe Biden appeared to lose his temper with a female reporter during a conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
In the news conference, CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked some questions that Biden might not have appreciated regarding his first face-to-face meeting with Russian premier Vladimir Putin since becoming president.
"Why are you so confident that he'll change his behavior Mr President,” Collins asked as Biden was walking away from the podium.
But in flash of anger, Biden turned on his heels and headed back to the podium, saying: "I'm not confident he's going to change his behavior. What the hell do you do all the time.”
"When did I say I was confident? What I said, let's get it straight. I said what will change your behavior is if the rest of the world reacts to them and diminished their standing in the world," he added.
He also reiterated that he's not "confident of anything" and is just stating the "fact".
Collins then responded with a follow-up question.
"But given his [Putin's] past behavior has not changed and in that press conference after sitting down with you for several hours he denied any involvement in cyberattacks; he downplayed human rights abuses. He even refused to say Alexei Navalny's name. So how does that account to a constructive meeting as president?"
Appearing to want to be done with the conversation, Biden closed out with this statement:
"If you don't understand that, you are in the wrong business,” and wandered off.
Biden didn’t want to let that one slide pic.twitter.com/ogMePeIb8W
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 16, 2021
People on Twitter had mixed reactions, with some believing she misrepresented what he said.
Kaitlyn Collins asked Biden the source of his confidence that Putin’s behavior would change. Biden never expressed confidence, an important mistake on her part.
— Nevertheless She Persists (@ResisterSis1) June 16, 2021
Kaitlyn mischaracterized Biden’s statement and Biden got pissed, then he apologized. No biggie.
— Nevertheless She Persists (@ResisterSis1) June 16, 2021
A man, you, trying to turn Biden’s correction of a badly worded question into an assault on women, makes me sick. I generally appreciate Kaitlyn Collins questions and reporting but she messed up, not President Biden. His response was to the question not to her gender.
— 🧜♀️🐬T 🌻💕 (@CalZoniGalT) June 16, 2021
CNN's Kaitlyn Collins rightly got taken down a peg for posing a strawman argument that Biden never made, and then seeking to undermine it.https://t.co/m5ljkt7pwH
— Monty 🇺🇸Lincoln's Speeches🇺🇸 Boa (@MontyBoa99) June 16, 2021
He’s a lot more badass than I thought. I like it. I like it a lot. 😎
— SheBear (@SheBearOfKatmai) June 16, 2021
Kaitlan, I like you but you looked silly out there today. Save that for OAN, you are better than that.
— Eric (@Magicwaddle2) June 16, 2021
However, others believed that Biden shouldn't have been so "salty" over the questions. Some defended Collins, saying she was just paraphrasing.
You asked a simple valid question and he could have not gotten so salty or he could have easily walked away. FYI your followers love 46 and can’t see past that. Level headed ppl know he was salty at that moment just like 45 when he pulled his sh!t.
— Michael Quinonez (@Michael87711924) June 16, 2021
I think you’re taking her words as a critique when I think she was just paraphrasing Biden: and it’s a compliment, not an attack. Please re-read what she’s saying.
— Leslie Barcza (@barczablog) June 16, 2021
Biden later apologized for his reaction, saying he shouldn't have been a "wise guy" with his response.
Biden apologizes to @kaitlancollins. “I owe my last questioner an apology. I shouldn’t have bene such a wiseguy with the last answer I gave,” he tells reporters.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) June 16, 2021
