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President Biden said Friday that he wanted to cross the Polish border into Ukraine, but “they will not let me” — without clarifying who exactly told the leader of the free world he wasn’t allowed to thumb his nose at Russia’s invasion.
“I’m here in Poland to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis and quite frankly, part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it firsthand like I have in other places,” Biden said at a briefing on humanitarian operations in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland.
“They will not let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine,” the US commander in chief said, seated next to Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Biden routinely speaks of other officials or members of his administration controlling his actions, including telling reporters he’s going to get in trouble for taking questions, without clarifying who made that decision.
As he spoke alongside Duda, Biden also said, “I want to hear from all of you. The problem is I know they’re going to tell me I have to get on the plane.”
Presidents have wide latitude to make travel decisions. For example, in 2019, then-President Donald Trump walked into North Korea at the invitation of dictator Kim Jong Un.
But presidents also sometimes blame Secret Service or aides for preventing them from going certain places. For example, Trump said he wanted to join a mob of his supporters marching on the Capitol last year, “but they wouldn’t let me go.” He said he would have been able to quell the crowd if he had been allowed to join.
Other world leaders have visited Ukraine to show support for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s fight against Russia’s invasion. On March 15, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, despite heavy bombardment of the city.
Biden’s claim that others prevented him from visiting Ukraine or speaking at greater length came shortly after he made a significant apparent gaffe, telling a crowd of Army paratroopers that they would witness the bravery of Ukrainians defending their country “when you’re there,” despite repeatedly saying the US would stay out of a direct role in the conflict for fear of starting “World War 3.”
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