Biden blames Putin for Nalvany’s death and is ‘researching’ how to respond: President strangely freezes in speech in which he attacks TRUMP for inviting Russia to invade NATO allies and criticizes Congress for not approving aid to Ukraine

President Joe Biden placed the blame for Alexei Navalny’s death squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin and froze as he tried to articulate an attack on former President Donald Trump for his recent comments about Russia.

Biden told reporters he was “not surprised” and also “outraged” to learn that the 47-year-old Russian opposition leader had died while serving an 18-year prison sentence in a penal colony in Siberia, and I was looking for ways to respond.

While the president used his time to remember Navalny, he also used the brief appearance to rile Congress for going on vacation for two weeks, rather than approving funds for Ukraine, and to tell Trump what he thinks.

‘All of us should reject the dangerous statements of the previous president, who invited Russia to invade our NATO allies if they did not pay. He said that if an ally didn’t pay his debts, he would encourage Russia to “do whatever it wanted,” Biden said.

He then stopped speaking briefly as he gathered his thoughts.

“I guess I should clear my head a little bit and not say what I’m really thinking,” he continued after the break. ‘But let me be clear. “It’s a scandalous thing for a president to say.”

“I can’t understand it, I can’t understand it: from Truman on down, they are rolling in their graves hearing this,” Biden added.

The former president’s controversial comments were made at a rally in South Carolina on Saturday.

Trump said that while he was president he told a NATO leader to pay or “encourage” Russia to “do whatever they wanted.”

“As long as I am president, the United States will uphold our sacred commitment to our NATO allies, just as they have repeatedly upheld their commitments to us,” Biden said Friday. “Putin and the entire world should know that if any adversary attacked us, our NATO allies would back us up.”

“And if Putin were to attack a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory,” the president continued. “Now is the time to achieve even greater unity among our NATO allies.”

In June 2021, Biden promised that there would be consequences if Navalny died in prison.

“I made it clear to him that I think the consequences of this would be devastating for Russia,” the president said at the time, immediately after meeting Putin in Geneva.

When asked about that threat on Friday, Biden said Russia was already suffering that fate.

“That was three years ago,” he said. “In the meantime, they faced a lot of consequences.”

Biden highlighted the 350,000 Russian soldiers killed or injured by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the heavy sanctions the United States has deployed against Russia.

“And we’re contemplating what more could be done,” Biden said. ‘But what we were talking about at the time was not taking action against Russia. And look at everything that has happened since then.

“We’re looking at a lot of options, that’s all I’ll say for now,” Biden added.

The president also stated that the United States could not give additional ammunition to the Ukrainians without Congress passing the supplemental funding bill.

‘It’s time for them to step forward, don’t you think? Instead of taking two weeks of vacation,” Biden said in a whisper before raising his voice. ‘Two weeks. They are moving away. Two weeks! What are they thinking? My God.’

‘This is strange. And this just reinforces all the concern and almost, I won’t say panic, but real concern about the United States being a reliable ally,” Biden continued. ‘This is outrageous.’

He told reporters: “I hope Navalny’s death sparks action on Capitol Hill to get the funding bill passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

‘Come on. What are these guys doing? What are they doing?’ Biden urged.