White House Walks Back Biden Remark About Swapping Cybercriminals With Russia

Biden certainly has left quite the impression with his performance on the world stage during the G7 Summit.

During one of the many press conferences, Biden signaled an openness to swapping cybercriminals with Russia before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Yes, I’m open to, if there’s crimes committed against Russia that, in fact, people committing those crimes are being harbored in the United States, I’m committed to holding them accountable. I was told as I was flying here that he said that. I think that’s potentially a good sign of progress,” Biden said at a post-G-7 summit press conference in the United Kingdom on Sunday.Putin had raised the possibility during an interview over the weekend.”If we agree on the extradition of criminals, then Russia will naturally do that but only if the other side, in this case, the United States, agrees to the same and will also extradite corresponding criminals to the Russian Federation,” Putin said according to Russian news agency TASS.

White House officials, however, were quick to walk back those comments.

The White House on Sunday walked back comments from President Biden that he’d be “open” to exchanging cybercriminals with Russia.National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told press aboard Air Force One that Biden was not talking about “exchanges or swaps” when he seemed receptive to Vladimir Putin’s offer that the Kremlin would extradite cybercriminals if the US would respond in kind.“He’s not saying he’s going to be exchanging cybercriminals with Russia,” Sullivan said of Biden.“There’s no cybercriminals who have committed crimes in Russia he’s looking at, thinking, ‘I’m going to exchange them,’ ” Sullivan said.“I think that was over-read or misread in the press coming out of there.”

Given Biden’s performance at the G7, Americans should brace themselves for other comments, gaffs, and meme-worthy videos during the upcoming G20 Summit in October…which will also include a very hostile China.

…Even before the meeting broke up, the Chinese Embassy in London, which had been almost trolling the pronouncements of the Group of 7 nations — the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom — delivered a bitter denunciation.“The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone,’’ the Chinese government said in a statement.China is a member of the larger and more contentious Group of 20, whose member nations will meet in Italy in late October, which could be the first time in more than a decade for Mr. Biden to sit face to face with President Xi Jinping.

If the G7 shows what Biden can do with weeks of preparation, I shudder to think what will happen during the October event.

Tags: Biden Foreign Policy, Cyberwar, Russia, Vladimir Putin

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY