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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden News Conference As He Marks One Year in Office. Aired 3:45-5p ET

Aired January 19, 2022 - 15:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, professor. And CNN's special coverage of President Biden's news conference starts right now on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper.

[15:46:05] START HERE

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to "THE LEAD" I'm Jake Tapper. And we start today with breaking news.

Any minute President Joe Biden will hold his first news conference in months to mark the end of his first year as commander-in-chief. The president who has held fewer conferences than any other president at this point in the last 20 years will almost certainly face tough questions about this current Omicron surge with the United States averaging more than 740,000 new COVID cases, and more than 1,500 deaths every single day.

Biden is also facing a slew of other domestic and global challenges, a key Democratic priority, election reform is almost guaranteed to fail, a crucial vote in the next 24 hours. Soaring inflation means Americans are paying more from everything from food to gas, to energy. And the White House believes Russia could invade Ukraine, a U.S. ally at any moment.

We're going to bring you President Biden's remarks and press conference as soon as it begins.

Our panel of experts are here to analyze it all. Let's start however with CNN's Phil Mattingly who's live for us at the White House. Phil, what are we expecting to hear from President Biden in a few minutes?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, according to one Democratic lawmaker who spoke to the White House earlier today, quote, this is an opportunity to start to reclaim the narrative.

And I think that's kind of how White House officials and the president view this to some degree, an opportunity to face head on the many issues, the series of issues that have contributed to driving down the president's approval over the course of the last several months. And to do that I think the expectation in talking to White House officials is there will be a balancing act, an effort to elevate, really highlight a series of what the White House views as accomplishments, underappreciated accomplishments in the view of some White House officials over the course of the first year.

Be it legislative, be it with the vaccination efforts, could have broadly how they approach that first year. But also, in understanding that the American people don't necessarily feel it at this moment in time. A level of empathy but also a degree of trying to impress upon people that they are building on what they have done in the first year. That is what the president wants to highlight.

There's no question that this is not the highlight moment of the president's first year in office. His poll numbers are down. Democrats are anxious. The country to some degree is both anxious and exhausted, something the president will try and address, no question about it. But as one White House official told me earlier today, the building blocks are there for a good second year, and that is something I think you will certainly, hear the president highlight in the course of the next hour.

TAPPER: And Phil, there's also new CNN reporting today, that many Democratic campaign officials and operatives believe the White House, the Biden White House is entirely unprepared for the midterms?

MATTINGLY: Yes, this is related to a story our colleague, Isaac Dovere did where he spoke to a dozen or more high-level Democrats who raised a litany of serious complaints and concerns about how the White House is operated. Whether it's related to messaging, planning, even just getting back to people right now. And I think the White House is starting to hear that.

Look, Democrats are very anxious going into a midterm year. They know how history operates in the first midterm of a new presidency. But they're also looking at the same numbers everybody else is and recognize there's a very real possibility they will not only lose the House but potentially their very slim majority in the United States Senate as well.

And they raised those concerns very clearly to our colleague about the issues that they have with this White House, and very specific issues on the staff level, too. Including some complaints about White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. One thing that I have noticed over the course of the last 24 hours, Jake, the White House has been more proactive than I have seen over the course of the last several weeks in reaching out to members of Congress and their staff, including a call -- multiple calls yesterday with senior House aides trying to lay out a focus on messaging, trying to lay out a focus on responsiveness. And trying to make clear that the White House plans to be there to help in the weeks and months ahead.

But clearly there are concerns and anxiety. It's not just the American public watching, pretty much every Democratic lawmaker and staff member will be as well -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Phil, thanks so much. Let's discuss all this with CNN's John King, Dana Bash, and Abby Phillip, also with us, Biden biographer Evan Osnos. And we should note everyone here just tested negative for coronavirus, and we're all vaxxed and boosted. Dana, let me start with you, because you have more insight into Biden's mindset as he prepares for this news conference.

[15:50:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm told by people who have been around the preparation that he will give an opening speech like Phil just reported and will try to kind of walk a fine line, Jake, between the kind of, I feel your pain, that you covered with Bill Clinton, understanding that there is a lot of it out there. But also trying to get people to look on the bright side, trying to find those bright spots. It's going to be a difficult line to walk and people around him know that.

The other thing that I'm told is if he has an opportunity, he is prepared to try to begin to set down markers for midterm agenda and messaging. And the main thing that he is prepared to do -- if he gets there -- is to say, OK, Republicans, you're going to blame us for all of these things that are happening, which many of them are not good from economic problems, inflation, the -- one of the biggest. What are you going to do about it, Republicans? What's your plan? You want to govern? You want to take the majority back in the House and maybe the Senate? What's your plan?

That historically has been something that has worked and something that the opposition coming in has known that they needed to present a plan, the Contract with America in 2010. I'm not sure if that's an antiquated message though. I'm not sure if people are so angry out there at this point that they really need a plan from the opposition.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And that's typically not how midterms work. I mean the Democrats are in office so they are the ones who have to say, yes, give us, you know, two more years. In Joe Biden's case, he'll be asking soon, give my four more years and I think that that's what makes this so challenging.

Republicans just have to run against a -- run on change. And Democrats have to run here's what we did for you and that's where the White House is really struggling.

And Dana, you know, I'm hearing the same thing. They have lengthy lists of things that they have done and they've done those things. That's true. The COVID vaccination campaign has actually been largely successful, but the problem is, the recent history for Americans has been trending in a negative direction. It's the trend line that people are concerned about, and I think he has to sort of give Americans a sense of what's the next 6 to 8 months going to look like in this country? How am I going to turn this ship around?

And if he can do that today I think he has a shot at people giving him the second chance, maybe, who -- however many chances he has giving him another look.

TAPPER: And John, President Biden's approval rating has plummeted in recent months in the latest Gallup. He's at 40 percent. That's worse than almost all of his recent predecessors, barely better than where Trump was at the end of his first year. Why do you think that is, and what can he do to turn it around? JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: COVID exhaustion, COVID

exhaustion, COVID exhaustion.

If you look at the percent -- not just his approval rating, the percentage of Americans who think the country is on the right track is almost exactly the same -- 26 percent, 27 percent. It was 27 percent when he took office, 26 percent today. The percentage who think it's on the wrong track is trending in the wrong direction.

So, what is his challenge? I think a big question for me is, who does he talk to? Does he try to talk to the Democratic Party? He has problems in the party right now. That's not his biggest problem.

His biggest problem is out there in America where people think he has lost touch with them. He ran as the responsible adult who would make things better. The guy who understood government who would make things better.

He said in the July 4th speech, Summer of Freedom, gave the impression COVID was almost over. As you noted, we're at 770,000 cases a day right now. Not his fault. These variants come up but he left the impression, I got this in July. Afghanistan will be orderly. We'll be out of there in an orderly fashion. It was not. Inflation will be fleeting. It is not.

He has lost what he had in the campaign, which was the connection, I get your problems and I'm going to fix them.

So yes, he has problems in the Democratic Party. His bigger problem is convincing people out there who -- can I take my kids to school? When am I going back to work? Dear god, when is this going to be over and my life will be back to semblance of normal.

To convince them, I know it's hard, but I got it, we have a plan. We're going to get there. Because he's lost that.

TAPPER: And so, Evan, I mean if I had to sum up with two words Biden's basic platform, one of them was competence. Getting things done. That seems to be damaged. The other one is unity. I brought people together. I want to unify the nation. He said the word unity or a form of it, eight times in his inaugural address. Polling suggests that the American people don't think he's delivered on that either.

EVAN OSNOS, STAFF WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": I think that a year ago, we have to remind ourselves, what it felt like. You know, this moment after four painful, difficult years for a lot of Americans that suddenly you had somebody who felt to you like a breath of fresh air. There was this very, very high level of expectation coming in.

And one can debate this but the question of whether he could ever have met those expectations is a serious question. Now look, what does unity mean today? There are a lot of Americans who are unified around the idea that a vaccine is an important part of the path forward. A lot of Americans are unified around the idea that the election was won by Joe Biden in 2020. And at the same time of course we know he's facing resistance on those

from some quarters in this country. This is partly a period in his presidency now where he's saying to people, I am no longer playing softball as I was for a while. Trying to bring everybody along.

[15:55:00]

He's now saying, look, and you've heard this since the January 6th anniversary speech. He's saying it is time to recognize the threats to democracy, the threats to this country and let's get moving.

So, there's a period for talking about the aspirations of a presidency in the very beginning and then a time for meeting people where they are in their experience right now and that's what today is really about.

TAPPER: And Abby, what is the message right now overall that we're hearing from Biden and the Democrats when it comes to what they are delivering? I think it's fair to say that they have been saying, not without reason, that there are questions about how much the Republican Party right now believes in expanding the vote, democracy, those kind of fundamentals. But beyond that. Beyond Donald Trump trying to steal the election. What are they suggesting people support them for? Like what are they offering?

PHILLIP: Well, the president wanted to pass a major expansion of the social safety net in this country. It's still out there, but it is on life support -- Build Back Better. And the absence of the pillars of that legislation is making that answer to that question very difficult for Democrats to give the American people. Because there are things in there that are really important kitchen table policies that are stuck in the melees of partisanship in Congress. They're stuck in the dysfunction of, you know, the procedure of the filibuster and all of that stuff.

I mean when we talk about COVID exhaustion, one of the big pieces of that is childcare. And the lack of childcare and what this pandemic has done to women, what this pandemic has done to communities of color and to families, and the White House is having a hard time answering those concerns.

Those kitchen table concerns because they bundled everything together in a massive package that is going nowhere. So, the question for Biden today is how does he signal what the path forward is for that?

Because that's the -- that's where the rest of his agenda is. There's a whole pillar of things that's democracy related issues that may be on hold for now but they've got to get moving on the kitchen table issues because that's what matters to every single constituency who put him in the White House.

BASH: And that really drives one of the most important factors. A lot of things have changed over the past five, six years in politics since we cover it. But one of the things that I am sure will not change is an indicator that we call right track/wrong track. How do people in America feel? People at home that you're talking about. And I asked our polling director Jennifer Agiesta before coming on,

what that is right now. And the number she gave me was basically two- thirds, 66 percent. Two-thirds of Americans think that this country, things are going badly. That's only the second worst percentage since Jimmy Carter.

That kind of tells you everything you need to know. And it is not necessarily a partisan thing. It is a, to borrow a term from Jimmy Carter, a malaise that people are feeling, and it's going to be up to Joe Biden since he is only one year in, to help turn that around with not just his rhetoric but with his actions and his policies.

TAPPER: And tonight, or tomorrow, we're going to see this vote in the Senate on these two election reform bills. They are not going to pass. No Republican supports them. And then there's also going to be a vote on trying to change the filibuster rules so that something like this can pass with 51 votes instead of the 60 votes needed to proceed.

What message does that send? Why would Joe Biden, why would Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, be forcing that vote knowing that ultimately what's going to happen is a bipartisan vote against changing the rules.

KING: Right, why would you take a vote that you're going to lose at a time when a lot of people out in our country are already saying Washington doesn't work? Why would you take another vote that you're going to lose?

That gets at the two different and very complicated challenges the president faces. In that he's the president of a country. He's the president of the country who, you know, I don't think many breakfast conversations this morning, were what do you think about the filibuster?

Now that doesn't mean it's not important. It doesn't mean it's not important. It doesn't mean that the president shouldn't highlight Republican unanimous opposition to voting rights.

Republican efforts in the states to roll back voting rights. Those are fundamental issues fir the country. However, in the middle of this COVID funk, whether it's from a public health perspective or an economic perspective, that's not issue number one for most Americans but it is issue number one for a lot of the president's party.

And we're in a midterm election year where he needs to motivate people to vote, he needs to convince them he's in the fight.

So that is I think -- this is one of the issues where the Democrats got too far out over their skis about expectations. What can we do?

Remember, Joe Biden the day after the election thought Nancy Pelosi is Speaker, Mitch McConnell as the Senate Republican leader. He thought he would be the bipartisan guy, sort of the bridge between a Democratic House and Republican Senate.

Then bam, Democrats to their credit win these two Georgia Senate races but it's still 50/50. You can't get much done in this town 50/50, but what did they do? We will pass voting rights. We will pass a $6 trillion reconciliation plan. They got way out over their skis.

Again, ambition is a good thing. Aspiration is a good thing. That's how you motivate people. You should advance your policy agenda but the president was unable. I'm not sure he could have in this social media age.

[16:00:01]

He was unable to manage expectations in his party for how much they could do.

And then for Americans who don't check their list everyday, they just look at Washington and they say, what the hell is going on there?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Yeah, and they look at prices in the grocery store and they look at the prices at the gas station.

We expect President Biden to address a number of pressing challenges, including the standoff at Russian/Ukrainian border.

Joining us now, CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane, we're expecting the president to come out in two minutes. What if anything can President Biden say today to bring down the temperature of the standoff, to convince Vladimir Putin that an invasion, again, is the wrong idea?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, Jake, actually, in the words of the State Department official today, perhaps diplomacy is not dead, a very united and strong front led by the United States with their NATO allies has, as you know, been confronting Putin over these 100,000 troops.

Today, for me, the headline is, their chief negotiator, Sergey Ryabkov, said publicly in a forum, and he is the voice of Putin on this issue, we do not want to and will not strike, attack, invade, whatever, quote-unquote -- it's literally what he said -- Ukraine.

So that is pretty definitive and he has Putin's ear and as you know, Secretary of State Blinken is back in the region. He'll meet with the foreign minister of Russia on Friday. So, diplomacy is not dead. The Russia said after last round of talks that we've got nothing else to talk about unless you, you know, accede to our demands, we got our troops here, and we're not moving them.

It appears that there is still light at this end of this diplomatic tunnel, and I think that's really important at this time.

TAPPER: President Biden has been presence in U.S. foreign policy literally for decades. How much do we know about what Putin thinks of Biden?

AMANPOUR: Look, it's hard to know, you know, put yourself in somebody else's head but there are many analysts who ask these questions and done enough work. They believe that Putin --

TAPPER: Christiane, I'm sorry, I apologize, I have to interrupt. Here comes President Biden.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.

Tomorrow, we'll mark one year since I took office. It's been a year of challenges, but it's also many year but enormous progress. We went from 2 million people being vaccinated at the moment I was sworn in to 210 million Americans being fully vaccinated today.

We created 6 million new jobs, more jobs in one year than any time before. Unemployment dropped -- the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent. Child poverty dropped by nearly 40 percent, the biggest drop ever in American history.

New business applications grew by 30 percent, the biggest increase ever. And for the first time in a long time, this country's working people actually got a raise, actually got a raise. People, the bottom 40 percent, saw their income go up the most, all got a raise.

We got health insurance premiums for millions of American families. And we just made surprise medical bills illegal in this country. You know, those bills you get that you don't expect them to $2,000 to $5,000 from hospital beyond what you thought you were going to have to owe because the consultation you weren't told was going to cost that much. No more. They're now illegal.

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and other actions we've taken, we've seen record job creation, record economic growth in the past year. Now, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure bill, we're about to make a record investment in rebuilding America to protect us to be the number one best infrastructure in the world. Now, we're way below that.

We'll be creating better jobs for millions of people modernizing our roads, our bridges, our highways, our ports, our airports, everything from making clean water, lead -- removing lead pipes, that every American turn out -- every American can turn on a faucet and drink clean water.

Urban and rural and suburban communities. We can make affordable high- speed internet available to every American in urban, rural and suburban areas. We've never done that before. Now we are in the process of getting that done.

Still, for all this progress, I know there's a lot of frustration and fatigue in this country. And we know why. COVID-19, Omicron has now been challenging us in a way that it's the new enemy.

But while it's a cause of concern, it's not cause for panic. We've been doing everything we can, learning and adapting as fast as we can and preparing for future beyond the pandemic.

[16:05:02] All I know that after almost two years of physical emotional and

psychological weight of this pandemic and has it -- the impact it's had on everyone, for many of us, has been too much to bear.

We're in a very different place now though. We have the tools -- vaccines, boosters, masks, test pills, to save lives and keep businesses and schools open. Seventy-five percent of adults are fully vaccinated. We've gone from 90 million adults with no shots in arms last summer, and down to 35 million with no shots as of the day. And we're adding about 9 million more vaccinations each week.

We're going to stick with our vaccination numbers because vaccinations work. So get vaccinated, please, and get your booster.

Look, we're also increasing tests. Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But we're doing more now. We've gone from zero at-home tests a year ago to 375 million tests on the market in just this month. If you buy a test to the store, your insurance will reimburse you.

On top of that, we're making one billion, one billion at-home tests available for you to order and be delivered to your home for free. Just visit COVIDtest.gov to know how to get that free test kit to your home.

In addition, there are 20,000 sites where you can get tested in person for free now. And now we have more treatments that people can -- for people to keep people out of the hospital than any other point in the pandemic, including life-saving antiviral pills.

We purchased 20 million of these new Pfizer pills, more than any country in the world. And the bottom line in COVID-19 is that we're in a better place than we been and had happened thus far, clearly better than a year ago.

We're not going to back -- we're not going back to lockdowns, we're not going back to closing schools. School should stay open because the American Rescue Plan, we provided two states $130 billion -- $130 billion to keep our students and educators safe and schools open. Funding for ventilation systems in schools, social distancing, hygiene for classrooms in the school buses.

In addition, we've added another $10 billion for COVID-19 tests to be able to be administrative schools. And many states and school districts have spent this money very well.

Unfortunately, some haven't. I encouraged the states and school districts that use the funding to protect our children and keep our schools open, use it. So COVID-19 is not going to give up and accept things -- you know, it's just -- it's not going to go away immediately.

But I'm not going to give up and accept things as they are now. Some people may call what's happening now the new normal. I call it a job not yet finished.

It will get better. We're moving toward a time when COVID-19 won't disrupt our daily lives. For COVID-19 won't be a crisis, but something to protect against and a threat. Look, we're not there yet, but we will get there.

Now the second challenge we're facing are prices. COVID-19 has created a lot of economic complications, including rapid price increases across the world economy. People see it at the gas pumps, the grocery stores and elsewhere.

So, here's what we're going to do. A critical job and making sure that the elevated prices don't become entrenched rests with the Federal Reserve, which has a dual mandate, full employment and stable prices. The Federal Reserve provided extraordinary support during the crisis for the previous year and a half. Given the strength of our economy and the pace of recent price increases, it's appropriate -- as the Federal Chairman Powell, the Fed Chairman Powell has indicated, to recalibrate the support that is now necessary.

I respect the Fed's -- the Fed's independence. And I've nominated five superb individuals to serve on the Federal Board of Governors, men and women from a variety of ideological perspectives. They're eminently qualified to historically diverse and have heard bipartisan praise. And I'm calling the United States Senate to confirm them without any further delay.

And here at the White House, and for my friends in Congress, the best thing to tackle high prices is a more productive economy, with greater capacity to deliver goods and services to the American people, and a growing economy where folks have more choices and more small businesses compete and more goods can get to market faster and cheaper.

[16:10: 12]

I've laid out a three-part plan to do just that. First, fix the supply chain. COVID-19 has had a global impact on the economy. On a factory shuts down in one part of the world, shipments to shops and homes and businesses all over the world are disrupted. COVID-19 has compounded that many times over. A couple of months ago in this very room, we talked -- we heard dire warnings about how the supply chain problems could create a real crisis around the holidays.

So we acted. We brought together business and labor. And that much predicted crisis did not occur. Ninety-nine percent of the packages were delivered on time, and shelves were stocked. And notwithstanding the recent storms that have impacted many parts of our country, the share of goods in stock at stores is 89 percent now which is barely changed from the 91 percent before the pandemic.

I often see empty shelves being shown on television, 89 percent or full, which is only a few points below it was before the pandemic. But our work is not done.

My infrastructure law was supercharge our effort upgrading everything from roads and bridges, to ports and airports, railways and transit to make the economy move faster, and reduce prices for families.

Second thing, my Build Back Better plan will address the biggest cost of working families face every day.

No other plan will do more to lower the cost for American families. It cuts the cost of -- for childcare. Many families including the people sitting in this room if they have children, and they're working full time, many families pay up to $14,000 a year for childcare in big cities less than that and smaller ones. My plan cuts that in half.

That will not only be a game changer for so many families' budgets, but it will mean so much for nearly two million women who've left the workforce during the pandemic because of things like childcare.

My Build Back Better plan cuts the price of prescription drugs. So insulin that today costs some people as much as $1,000 a month will cost no more than $35 a month. It cuts the cost of eldercare, it lowers energy cost. And it will do all this without raising a single penny in taxes on people making under $400,000 a year or raising the deficit.

In fact, my plan cuts the deficit and boosts the economy by getting more people into the workforce. That's why 17 Nobel Prize winners for economics, say will ease long term inflationary pressure. The bottom line, if price increases are what you're worried about, the best answer is my Build Back Better plan.

Third thing we're going to do: promote competition. Look into many industries, a handful of giant companies dominate the market and sectors like meat processing, railroad, shipping and other areas.

This isn't a new issue. It's not been the reason we've had high inflation today. It's not the only reason. It's been happening for a decade.

But over time, it has reduced competition, squeezed out small businesses and farmers, ranchers and increase the price for consumers. We end up with an industry like the meat processing industry where four big companies dominate the markets.

Pay ranchers less for their cattle they grow, charge consumers more for beef, hamburger meat, whatever they're buying. Prices are up.

Look, I'm a capitalist. But capitalism without competition is not capitalism. It's exploitation.

So I signed an executive order to tackle unfair competition in our economy. And we're going to continue to enforce it, along with working with Congress where we can.

I'll close to this. We have faced some of the biggest challenges that we've ever faced in this country these past few years -- challenges to our public health, challenges to our economy, but we're getting through it. And not only are we getting through it, we're laying the foundation for future where America wins the 21st century by creating jobs at a record pace, and we need to get inflation under control.

We have developed an extraordinarily effective booster shots and antiviral pills. Now I need to finish the job to COVID-19 under control. I've long said, it's never been a good bet to bet against the American people or America.

[16:15:02]

I believe that more than ever today. We've seen the grit and determination in American people this past year. But the best days of this country are still ahead of us, not behind us.

I'm happy to take questions.

Yes?

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.

I know that some of my colleagues will get into some specific issues. But I want to zoom out on your first year in office. Inflation is up. Your signature domestic legislation is stalled in Congress. In a few hours from now, the Senate -- in effort in the Senate to deal with voting rights and voting reform legislation is going to fail. COVID-19 is still taking the lives of 1,500 Americans every day.

And the nation's divisions are just as raw as they were a year ago.

Did you overpromised to the American public what you could achieve in your first year in office? And how do you plan to course-correct going forward?

BIDEN: Why are you such an optimist?

Look, I didn't overpromise. And -- but I have probably outperform what anybody thought would happen. The fact of the matter is that we're in a situation where we have made enormous progress. You mentioned the number of deaths from COVID. Well, it was three times not long ago, it's coming down, everything's changing. It's getting better. Look, I didn't overpromise.

But I think if you take a look at what we've been able to do, you'd have to acknowledge we made enormous progress. But one of the things that I think, is something that one thing I hadn't been able to do so far, is get my Republican friends to get in the game of making things better in this country. For example, I was reading the other day, and I wrote the quote down. So I don't misquote them.

A quote from Senator Sununu. When he decided that he wasn't going to -- excuse me, Governor Sununu. When he decided he wasn't going to run for the Senate in New Hampshire.

Here's what he said. They were all -- for the most -- "They were all for the most part, content with the speed at which they weren't doing anything. It was very clear that we just had the whole line for two years. OK. So I'm just going to be a roadblock for the next two years? That's not what I do." Sununu said.

When I say it bothered me, that they were OK with that. Then he goes on to say I said, OK, so we're not going to get stuff done if we win the White House back -- if we win the White House back. Why didn't we do anything in 2017 and 2018? And then he said, how the Republicans Sununu spoke to answer the challenge? He said crickets, yes, crickets. They had no answer. I did not anticipate that there'd be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done.

Think about this, what are Republicans for? What are they for? Maybe one thing they're for. And so, the problem here is that I think what's happens what I have to do in the -- in the change in tactic, if you will. I have to make clear to the American people, what we are for, we pass a lot. We past a lot of things that people don't even understand what all is in it understandably. Remember when we passed the Affordable Care Act, and everybody thought that, you know, it really was getting pummeled and beaten and it wasn't until after out of office and that next campaign would get off your campaign.

And I went into a hole, I wasn't in office and we were in a whole bunch of districts campaigning for Democrats and Republican districts. So they wanted to do away with health care, with Obamacare. And I started pointing out that if you did that preexisting conditions would no longer be covered. And they said, huh? We didn't know that. We didn't know that. And guess what? We won over 38 seats because we expanded the people exactly what in fact had passed.

And one of the things that I remember saying, and I'll end this, I remember saying to President Obama when he passed the Affordable Care Act. I said, You ought to take a victory lap. And he said, there's so many things going on, we don't have time to take a victory lap. As the consequence, no one knew what the detail of the legislation was. They don't know a lot of the detail of what we passed.

So the difference is, I'm going to be out on the road a lot, making the case around the country, with my colleagues who are up for reelection and others making the case of what we did do and what we want to do, what we need to do. And so, I don't think I've over promised at all and I'm going to stay on this track.

[16:20:01]

You know, one of the things that I remember now and I was talking with, you know, Jim Clyburn who was a great help to me in the campaign in South Carolina.

And Jim said and when he endorsed me, and it was -- it was a clip on television last couple of days of Jim. And it said that we want to make things accessible and affordable for all Americans. It's health care, it's education, that's prescription drugs. That's making sure you have access to all the things everybody else has. We can afford to do that. We can -- we can't afford not to do it.

So I tell my Republican friends, here I come. This is going to be about what are you for. What are you for. And lay out what we're for. Mary Bruce, ABC.

MARY BRUCE, ABC NEWS REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.

You mentioned your Republican colleagues. But right now, your top two legislative priorities, your social spending package and voting rights legislation are stalled, blocked by your own party after months of negotiation. You are only guaranteed control of Washington for one more year before the midterms. Do you need to be more realistic and scale down these priorities in order to get something passed?

BIDEN: No, I don't think so. When you say more realistic, I think it's extremely realistic to say to people because -- let me back up. You all really know the politics in this country and your networks and others who spend a lot of time which I'm glad you do. Pulling this data, determining where they move, what the American people's attitudes are, et cetera.

American people overwhelmingly agree with me on prescription drugs. They overwhelmingly agree with me on the cost of education. They overwhelmingly agree with me on early education. They over -- go on the list on childcare. And so, we just have to make the case what we're for and what the other team is not for. Look, we knew all along that a lot of this was going to be an uphill fight.

And one of the ways to do this is to make sure we make the contrast as clear as we can. And one of the things that I think is -- we're going to have to do is just make the case. I don't think there's anything unrealistic about -- I'm not trying to -- I'm not asking for castles in the sky. I'm asking for practical things the American people have been asking for for a long time. A long time. And I think we can get it done.

BRUCE: You say though that you're not going to scale down any of these priorities. But so far, that strategy isn't working, you haven't been able to get some of these big legislative ticket items done --

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: I got two real big ones done, bigger than any president has ever gotten into first year.

BRUCE: But currently, Mr. President, you're spending package, voting rights legislation, they're not going anywhere. So --

BIDEN: That's true.

BRUCE: Is there anything that you are confident you can get signed into law before the midterm elections?

BIDEN: Yes, I'm confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better law signed in law. And I'm confident that we can take the case to the American people that the people they should be voting for are going to oversee whether your elections, in fact are legit or not, should not be those who are being put up by the Republicans to the dump -- to determine that they're going to be able to change the outcome of the election.

So whether or not we can actually get elected. And by the way, I haven't given up. We haven't finished the vote yet on, what's going on on the -- on voting rights and the John Lewis Bill and others. But -- so, look, this is -- I've been engaged in a long time in public policy. And I don't know many things that have been done in one fell swoop.

And so, I think the bet -- the most important thing to do is try to inform, not educate, inform the public of what's at stake in stark terms.

And let them make judgments and let them know who's for them and who's against them. Who's here, who's not there, and make that the case. And that's what I'm going to be spending my time doing in this off year election.

BRUCE: You mentioned Republicans and reaching out to them, some Republicans who may be open to major changes on voting rights, for instance, like Mitt Romney, he says he never even received a phone call from this White House. Why not?

BIDEN: Well, I like -- look, Mitt Romney's streak guy. He's a -- and -- one of the things that we're doing, I was trying to make sure we got everybody on the same page to my party on this score. And I didn't call many Republicans at all. The fact is that I do think that Mitt is a serious guy. I think we can get things done. I think -- I predict to you to get something done on the electoral reform side of this.

[16:25:01]

But rather than judge what's going to get done and not get done, all I can say is I'm going to continue to make the case why it's so important to not turn the electoral process over to political persons who are set up deliberately to change the outcome of elections. The -- Allison Harris, please.

ALLISON HARRIS, NEWS NATION WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.

Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn't passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?

BIDEN: Well, it all depends on whether or not, we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this has been set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. And it's one thing -- look, maybe I'm just being too much of an optimist. Remember how we thought not that many people were going to show up to vote in the middle of a pandemic, with the highest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America?

Well, I think if in fact, no matter how hard they make, for minorities to vote, I think you're going to see them willing to stand in line and defy the attempt to keep them from being able to vote. I think you're going to see the people we're trying to keep from being able to show up, showing up and making the sacrifice that needs to make in order to change the law back to what it should be.

And -- but it's going to be difficult. I make no bones about that. It's going to be difficult. But we're not there yet. We've not run out of options yet. And we'll see how this moves.

HARRIS: And on Omicron in education teachers are in result in some -- revolt in so many places. Parents are at odds over closing schools and remote learning. You say we're not going to go back to closing schools. You said that just moments ago, yet they're closing in some areas. What do you say to those teachers and principals and parents about school closings? And what can your administration do to help make up for learning loss for students?

BIDEN: First of all, I'd put in perspective, the question you asked. Very few schools are closing. Over 95 percent are still open. So you all phrase the questions when people -- I don't think it's deliberate on your part. But you phrase the question to anyone watches us on television, oh, my God, there must be -- all those schools must be closing, what are we going to do? 95 percent are still open, number one.

Number two, the idea that parents don't think it's important for their children to be in school. And teachers know that as well. That's why we made sure that we had the ability to provide the funding through the Recovery Act, through the act -- the first act we passed, to be able to make sure schools were able to be safe. So we have the ventilation systems available for them, we have the way they handle a scrub down laboratories.

And -- I mean, the laboratories kids go to to go to the bathroom, cafeterias, buses, et cetera. That -- all that money's there. There's billions of dollars made available. It's there. Not every school district has used it as well as should be used. But it's there. And so, the -- in addition to that there is now another $10 billion for testing of students in schools. So, I think as time goes on, it's much more likely you're going to see that number go back up from 95 percent.

Back up to 98, 99 percent. But the outfit, the individuals of the district that says we're not going to be open is always going to get -- and I'm not being critical to many of you, it's always going to get front page. It's always going to be the top of the news. But let's put it in perspective. 95, as high as 98 percent of the schools in America are open. Functioning and capable of doing the job.

How about Jen Epstein, Bloomberg?

JEN EPSTEIN, BLOOMBERG WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President, thank you.

Your top foreign policy advisors have warned that Russia is now ready to attack Ukraine. But there's still little unity among European allies about what a package of sanctions against Moscow would look like. If the U.S. and NATO aren't willing to put troops on the line to defend Ukraine and American allies can agree on a sanctions package, hasn't the U.S. and the West lost nearly all of its leverage over Vladimir Putin?

And given how ineffective sanctions have been in deterring Putin in the past, why should the threat of new sanctions give him pause?

BIDEN: Well, because he's never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves, number one.

Number two, we're in a situation where Vladimir Putin is about to -- we've had very frank discussions, Vladimir Putin tonight. And the idea that NATO is not going to be united, I don't lie. I've spoken to every major NATO leader, we've had the NATO-Russian Summit, we've had other -- the OSCEs met, et cetera.

And so, I think what you're going to see is that if Russia will be held accountable, if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, etc. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force of mass on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia, if they further grade -- invade Ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy.

And, you know, we're going to fortify our NATO allies, and I told him on the Eastern flank if in fact, he does invade, and we're going to -- I've already shipped over $600 million worth of sophisticated equipment, defensive equipment, to the Ukrainians. The cost of going into Ukraine, in terms of physical loss of life for the Russians, and they'll be able to prevail over time, but it's going to be heavy, it's going to be real, it's going to be consequential.

In addition to that, Putin has, you know, has a stark choice, he either de-escalation or diplomacy or confrontation of the consequences. Look, I think you're going to see, for example, everybody talks about how Russia has control over the energy supply that Europe absorbs? Well, guess what? That, that that money that they earn from that makes about 45 percent of the economy. I don't see that as a one way street, they go ahead and cut it off. It's like my mother used to say, you're biting your nose off to spite your face. It's not like they have all these wonderful choices out there.

I spoke with the prime minister of Finland. And, you know, we're talking about concern on the part of Finland and Sweden, about what Russia is doing. The last thing that that Russia needs is Finland deciding to change the status. They didn't say they're going to do that, but they're talking about what in fact is going on and how outrageous Russia has been.

We're finding ourselves in a position where I believe you will see that there'll be severe economic consequences. For example, anything that is involved dollar denominations, if they make a say, invade, they're going to pay, they're not going -- their banks will not be able to deal with dollars. So, there's a lot going to happen.

But here's the thing, my conversation with Putin, and we've been -- how can we say it, we have no problem understanding one another. He has no problem understanding me nor me, him. And the -- and the direct -- the conversations where I pointed out, I said, you know, you've occupied before other countries, but the price has been extremely high. How long and convoluted over time, at great loss and economic loss go in and occupy Ukraine? But how many years one, three, five, 10? What is that going to take? What toll does that take? It's real, it's consequential.

So, this is not all just a cakewalk for Russia. Militarily, they have overwhelming superiority and on -- as it relates to Ukraine, but they'll pay a stiff price immediately, near-term, medium-term, and long-term if they do it.

I'm sorry. OK. David Sanger, "New York Times".

DAVID SANGER, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thank you, Mr. President.

I wanted to follow up on your answer there about Russia and Ukraine. When you were in Geneva in June, you said to us about President Putin. I think the last thing he wants now is a Cold War. That since then, of course, you've seen him gather these troops, 100,000 troops, around Ukraine. The Secretary of State said today he thought he could invade it at any moment. You've seen the cyber-attacks. And you've seen the demand that he have a sphere of influence in which you would withdraw all American troops and nuclear weapons from what used to be the Soviet bloc.

So, I'm wondering if you still think that the last thing he wants is a Cold War. And has your view of him changed in the past few months?

[16:35:04]

And if it has, and he does invade, will your posture be to really move back to the kind of containment policy that you saw so often when you were still in the Senate?

BIDEN: The answer is that I think he still does not want any full- blown war. Number one.

Number two, do I think he'll test the West? Test the United States and NATO as significant as he can? Yes, I think he will. But I think he'll pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesn't think now will cost him what it's going to cost him. And I think he'll regret having done it.

Now, whether or not I think that -- how can I say this in a public for a? I think that he is dealing with what I believe he thinks is the most tragic thing that's happened to whether Russia in that the Berlin Wall came down, the Empire has been lost and near abroad is gone, et cetera. The Soviet Union has been split.

But think about what he has. He has eight time zones, burning tundra that will not freeze again, naturally, a situation where he has a lot of oil and gas. But he is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West. And so, I'm not so sure that he has -- David, I'm not so sure he has a certain -- what he's going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something. And by the way, I've indicated to him, the two things he said to me that he wants guarantees with. One is, Ukraine will never be part of NATO. And two, that NATO or the -- there will not be strategic weapons stationed in Ukraine. We could work out something on the second piece, pretending what he does along the Russian line as well, from the Russian border in the European area of Russia.

On the first piece, we have a number of treaties International and in Europe to suggest that you get to choose who you want to be with. But the likelihood that Ukraine is going to join NATO in the near-term is not very likely, based on much more work they have to do in terms of democracy and a few other things going on there. And whether or not the major allies in the West would vote to bring Ukraine in right now.

So, there's room to work if he wants to do that. But I think, as usual, he's going to -- I probably shouldn't go any further. But I think it will hurt him badly.

SANGER: Sounds like you're offering some way out here, some off-ramp, and it sounds like what it is, is at least an informal assurance that NATO is not going to take in Ukraine anytime in the next few decades. And it sounds like you're saying we would never put nuclear weapons there. He also wants us to move all of our nuclear weapons out of Europe and not have troops rotating through the old Soviet bloc. Do you think there's space for that narrative?

BIDEN: No. No, there's not space for that, remote permanently stationed. But the idea we're not going to -- we're going to actually increase true presence in Poland or Romania, et cetera, if in fact he moves. Because we have a sacred obligation in Article Five to defend those countries. They are part of NATO. We don't have that obligation relative to Ukraine. Although, we have great concern about what happens in Ukraine. Thank you.

Maureen, "USA Today".

MAUREEN GROPPE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Thank you, Mr. President.

I want to follow up on your comment on Build Back Better and also ask you a question about the pandemic. You said that you're confident you can pass big chunks of Build Back Better this year. Does that wording mean that you are thinking about -- you're looking at breaking the package up into individual portions?

And then on the pandemic. Now that the Supreme Court has blocked the vaccination or test rule for larger businesses, are you reconsidering whether to require vaccines for domestic flights as a way to boost vaccination rates?

BIDEN: No, look, first of all, on the last part of the questions, the Supreme Court decision, I think, was a mistake, but you still see thousands and thousands of people who work for major corporations having to be tested, as a consequence of the decision made by the corporation not by the standard I said that is here. [16:40:03]

I think you'll see that increase not decrease, number one.

What was the first part of your question?

GROPPE: On your comment that you made that you're confident that major chunks of Build Back Better can pass. Are you breaking it up?

BIDEN: Yes. Well, it's clear to me that we're going to have to probably break it up. I think that we can get -- and I've been talking to a number of my colleagues on the Hill. I think it's clear that we would be able to get support for the course of 500 plus billion dollars for energy and the environmental issues that are there, number one.

Number two, I know that the two people who will posed on the Democratic side, at least, support a number of the things that are in there. For example, Joe Manchin strongly supports early education, three and four years of age strongly supports. There is strong support for, I think, a number of the way in which to pay for these -- pay for this proposal.

So, I think there is -- I'm not going to -- I'm not going to negotiate against myself as to what shouldn't be in it, but I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now and come back and fight for this later.

Ken. "Wall Street Journal". Ken Thomas.

KEN THOMAS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Thank you, Mr. President.

I want to ask you about the economy. As you said earlier, Americans are feeling the squeeze of inflation. Oil prices have been at about a seven-year high recently. How long should Americans expect to face higher prices when they're at the grocery store, when they're at the gas pump? Is this something that they're going to see into the summer into next fall?

In separately, you talk about the importance of the Fed, but isn't that an acknowledgment that you're limited in what you can do if you -- if you're relying on the Fed to make decisions? And you're unable to get a Build Back Better proposal through? Aren't you simply limited in what you can do to deal with inflation?

BIDEN: Well, look, as you know, Ken, the inflation has everything to do with the supply chain. And I think what you see is that we've been able to make progress on speeding up the access to materials, for example, one-third of the -- of the increase in cost of living is the cost of automobiles.

The reason automobiles have skyrocketed in prices, because of the lack of computer chips. So, we have the capacity. And we're going to do everything in our power to do it to become self-reliant on the computer chips that we need in order to be able to produce more automobiles. That's underway. We've already passed within the context of another bill, money for that in the House of Representatives before the House representatives.

But I think there's a way we can move to, if we can move to get, for example, that one thing done, it can make a big difference in terms of the cost of the total cost of living. Now, with regard to whole issue of energy prices, that gets a little more complicated.

But you saw what happened when I was able to convince everyone from including China, India, a number of other countries to agree with us to go into their version of this -- of their petroleum reserve, to release more into the market. So that brought down the price about 12, 15 cents a gallon, some places -- some places more.

There's going to be -- there's going to be a reckoning along the line here as to whether or not we're going to continue to see oil prices continue to go up in ways that are going up now relative to what is going to -- what impact that's going to have on the producers.

And so, it's going to be hard. I think that's the place where most middle class people, working class people get hit the most, and pull up to a pump. And all of a sudden, instead of paying $2.40 a gallon, they're paying $5 a gallon, that's going to be really difficult.

But so we're going to continue to work on trying to increase oil supplies that are available. And I think there's ways in which we can be of some value added in terms of the price of gas, natural gas, and like to take the burden off the European countries that are now totally dependent on Russia, but it's going to be hard. It's going to be very hard.

But I think that we have to deal with, for example, like I said, you have a circumstance where people are paying more for a pound of hamburger meat than ever paid.

[16:45:02]

Well, one of the reasons for that is you don't have that many folks out there that are the ones that are get the big for controlling law. And so you're going to see more and more. We're going to move on this competition piece to allow more and more smaller operations to come in and be able to engage in providing, buying, and providing the access to much cheaper meat than exist now. But it's going to be a haul.

Now -- and as you -- I assume, the reason you said if I can't get Build Back Better is relates to what those 17 Nobel laureate economists said that if, in fact, we could pass it, it would actually lower the impact on inflation, reduce inflation over time, et cetera.

So, there's a lot we have to do. It's not going to be easy, but I think we can get it done, but it's going to be painful for a lot of people in the meantime. That's why the single best way -- single best way to take the burden off middleclass and working class folks is to pass the Build Back Better piece that are things that they're paying a lot of money for now. If you get to trade off higher gas, as you're putting up higher price of hamburgers and gas versus whether or not you're going to have to -- you're going to be able to pay for education and/or childcare, it's like, I think most people would make the trade. Their bottom line would be better in middleclass households, but it's going to be hard, and it's going to take a lot of work.

THOMAS: Well, sir, you mentioned China. Do you think the time has come to begin lifting some of the tariffs on Chinese imports? Or is there a need for China to make do on some of its commitments in the Phase One Agreement? Some business groups would like you to begin raising -- lifting up those tariffs on China.

BIDEN: Well, I know that, and that's why my trade rep is working on that right now. The answer is uncertain. Uncertain, I'd like to be able to be in a position where I can say they're meeting the commitments, more their commitments, and be able to live some of it, but we're not there yet.

Nancy, CBS.

NANCY CORDES, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Thank you so much, Mr. President.

This afternoon, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the midterm elections are going to be a report card on your progress on inflation, border security, and standing up to Russia. Do you think that that's a fair way to look at it? And if so, how do you think that report card looks right now?

BIDEN: I think report cards look pretty good. That's right. Look, the idea that -- Mitch has been very clear. He's doing anything to prevent Biden for being success. I get now with Mitch. I actually like Mitch McConnell. We like one another. But he has one straightforward objective. Make sure that there's nothing I do that makes me look good in the mind and his mind, but the public at large. And that's OK. I'm a big boy. I've been here before.

But the fact is that I think that the -- I'm happy to debate and have a referendum on how I handle the economy, whether or not I've made progress on when -- look, again, I'm taking too long answering your questions, I apologize. I think that the fundamental question is, what's Mitch for? What's he for an immigration? What's he for? What's he proposing being better? What's he for dealing with Russia? It's different than I'm proposing that many of his Republican friends or colleagues support a well.

What's he for on these things? What are they for? So, everything's a choice. A choice. I think they -- look, I've laid out a proposal on immigration that if we passed it, we'd be in a totally different place right now. We're not there. Because we don't have a single Republican vote. My buddy John McCain's gone.

So, I mean, it's just -- it's going to take time. And, again, I go back to -- I go back to Governor Sununu's quote, how long -- I mean, rhetorical question. I don't -- I know that's not fair to ask a press question. I'm not asking.

But think about, did you ever think that one man out of office could intimidate an entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote, contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fair, being defeated into the primary?

[16:50:06]

I've had five Republican senators talk to me, bump into me, quote- unquote, or sit with me, who told me that they agree with whatever I'm talking about since I'm going to do. But, Joe, if I do it, I'm going to feed it in primary. I kind of break that. It's got to change.

And I doubt they're all -- not being sound like a baseless. They're all braced as hell, well-informed. Warns form than any group of people in America. But did any of you think that you get to a point where not a single Republican? Or diverge on a major issue? Not one? Anyway.

CORDES: Can you tell us who those five Republican senators are?

BIDEN: Sure. No, you kidding me? I maintain confidentiality. But I'm sure you've spoken to some.

CORDES: On voting rights, sir.

BIDEN: Yes.

CORDES: At your first press conference 10 months ago, I asked you if there was anything you could do beyond legislation to protect voting rights. And at that time, you said, yes, but I'm not going to lay out a strategy before you and the world now.

Now that legislation appears to be hopelessly stalled, can you now lay out your strategy to protect voting rights?

BIDEN: Well, I'm not prepared to do that in detail in terms of the executive orders I may be able to engage in and other things I can do. But what are the things we have done? We have -- we have significantly beefed up a number of enforcers in the Justice Department, who are there to challenge the -- these unconstitutional efforts, in our view, unconstitutional efforts on the part of the Republicans to stack the election and subvert the outcome.

We have begun to organize in ways that we didn't before the communities beyond the civil rights community to make the case to the rest of the American people what's about to happen? What will happen if, in fact, these things move forward? If I talk to you, not you, I use you to assess.

If I talk to the public about the whole idea of subversion of elections by deciding who the electors are after the fact, I think people would have looked at me like, whoa, I mean, I taught constitutional law for 20 years, a three-credit course and separation of powers.

And on Saturday morning, when I was a senator, and I never thought we'd get in a new place where we were talking about being able actually -- what they tried to do this last time out, send different electors to the state legislative bodies to represent who won the election, saying that I didn't win, but Republican candidate won.

I doubt what anybody thought that would ever happen in America in the 21st century, but it's happening. And so I think -- I guess what I'm saying is, Nancy, is that I think that there are a number of things we can do, but I also think we will be able to get significant pieces of legislation if we don't get it all now to build to get it so that we get a big chunk of the John Lewis legislation, as well as the fair elections.

CORDES: Sir, on COVID, if you don't mind, you touted the number of Americans who are now fully vaccinated with two shots. But even some of your own medical advisors say that people aren't fully protected unless they have that third shot, a booster, why hasn't this White House changed the definition of fully vaccinated to include that third booster shot? Is it because the numbers of fully vaccinated Americans would suddenly look a lot less impressive?

BIDEN: No, it's not that at all. This is -- this has become clearer and clearer. And every time I speak of that, I say, if you've been vaccinated, get your booster shot. Everybody get the booster shots. It's the optimum protection you can have. You're protected very well with two shots. If it's the Pfizer -- anyway, you're protected. But you are better protected with the booster shot.

CORDES: The definition right now.

BIDEN: I'm following what the -- the answer is, yes, get the booster shot. It's all part of the same thing. You're better protected.

OK. Alex Alper, Reuters.

ALEXANDRA ALPER, REUTERS, WHITE HOUSE BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.

I wanted to follow up briefly on a question asked by Bloomberg. You said that Russia would be held accountable if it invades and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and we end up having to fight about what to do and what not to do.

[16:55:05]

Are you saying that a minor incursion by Russia into Ukrainian territory would not lead to the sanctions that you have threatened? Or are you effectively giving Putin permission to make a small incursion into the country?

BIDEN: Good question.

That's how it (INAUDIBLE), didn't it?

The most important thing to do, big nations can't bluff, number one. Number two, the idea that we would do anything to split NATO, which would be have a profound impact on one of, I think, probably impact on one of Putin's objective is to weaken NATO, would be a big mistake.

So the question is, if it's something significantly short of a significant invasion, or not either significant, just major military forces coming across, for example, it's one thing to determine that if they continue to use cyber efforts, well, we can respond the same way, a cyber.

They have FSB people in Ukraine now trying to undermine the solidarity within Ukraine, about Russia, and to try to promote Russian interest. But it's very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page. And that's what I'm spending a lot of time doing. And there are differences. There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do depending on what happens, the degree to which they're able to go.

And I want to be clear with you. The serious imposition of sanctions relative to dollar transactions and other things are things that are going to have a negative impact on the United States, as well as the negative impact in the economies of Europe as well, a devastating impact on Russia.

And so, I got to make sure everybody's on the same page as we move along. I think we will, if there's something that is -- that where there's Russian forces crossing the border killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera, I think that changes everything. But it depends on what he does as to what extent we're going to be able to get total unity on the -- on the NATO front.

ALPER: If I may ask a quick one on Iran. I just wanted to get your sense of whether the Vienna talks are making any progress if you still think it's possible to reach a deal for both sides to resume compliance with the Iran nuclear deal or if it's time to give up on that. Thank you.

BIDEN: I'm doing reverse, it's not time to give up. The recent progress been made. The P5 Plus 1 is on the same page. But it remains to be seen.

OK. Kristen, NBC.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very quickly on Russia. I do have a number of domestic policy issues, but on Russia, very quickly. It seems like you said that you have assessed, you feel as though he will move in. Has this administration -- have you determined whether President Putin plans to invade or move into Ukraine, as you said?

BIDEN: Look, the only thing I'm confident of is that decision is totally, solely, completely Putin decision. Nobody else is going to make that decision, no one else is going to impact that decision. He's making that decision.

And I suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he's going to do. And I think it is not irrational if he wanted to, to talk about dealing with strategic doctrine and dealing with force structures in Europe and in the European parts of Russia.

But I don't know whether he's decided he wants to do that or not. So far in the three meetings we've had, OSCE -- anyway, have not produced anything, because the impression I get from my Secretary of State, my national security adviser and my other senior officials that are doing these meetings, is that there's a question of whether the people they're talking to know what he's going to do.

So, the answer is -- but based on a number of criteria as to what he could do, for example, for him to move in and occupy the whole country, particularly from the North from Belarus, it's -- he's going to have to wait a little bit on the ground frozen, so he can go. To move in a direction where he wants to talk about what's going -- we have -- we're continuing to provide for defense capacities to the -- to the Ukrainians.

We're talking about what's going on in both the Baltic and the Black Sea, et cetera.