Biden 'FAILED Putin’s test when US scrambled F-22 jets to face off with Russian war games,' ex-Navy Seal Commander says
JOE Biden "failed Putin's test" when the US scrambled a fleet of F-22 jets to face off with the Russian Navy off the coast of Hawaii earlier this week, a former Navy Seal commander claims.
David Sears slammed Biden in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night, just hours after the US President met with Putin for grandstand talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
Read our Joe Biden press conference live blog for the latest news and updates…
A day prior to the long-anticipated meeting, which came as the dramatic culmination to Biden's eight-day European tour, the US Air Force had a face-off of its own with the Russian Navy in the Pacific Ocean.
A fleet of F-22s was dispatched by the USAF between 300-500 miles off the coast of Hawaii to meet what was described by officials as Russia's largest military exercise in the Pacific since the Cold War.
The Russian exercise included surface ships, anti-submarine aircraft, and long-range bombers.
The US sent the fighter jets to respond to the bomber flights, but the bombers didn't enter the Air Defense Identification Zone and were not intercepted.
When quizzed about the report on Wednesday and how the encounter was reportedly not brought up during the US-Russia summit, Sears told Fox: "It’s obviously a test and President Biden failed.”
Sears added that Putin has a time-tested strategy of aggressively testing new US administrations to see how much he can get away with.
The former Navy commander also warned that Biden should expect to see instances of Russian aggression across the globe, not just hundreds of miles off the shore of the US.
"Remember, the last time under this, this President’s watch, the Russians invaded Ukraine," Sears said.
"And they’re gonna keep pushing and keep trying to fracture any alliances in Europe and the U.S. and places like that, and they’re succeeding so far.”
Something that Biden did raise to Putin during their summit was the subject of cyber attacks, a number of which have been carried out on US soil over the last year by Russia-based hackers.
Biden told reporters that he warned his Russian counterpart there would be "consequences" for any future attacks, with the president not ruling out retaliation.
He also claimed to have given Putin a list of 16 US entities that were absolutely "off-limits" to cyberattacks, including water, electric, and other industries.
But Sears said there's "no way" Putin will follow Biden's orders.
"This is a guy who prides himself on, you know, President Putin, on wrestling bears riding tigers, lassoing the moon, I mean, he’s got this image that’s bigger than thou and he wants that,” Sears said.
"And that, and President Biden helped perpetuate some of that today, it was bad.”
He continued: “We should be showing our cyber capabilities, you need to demonstrate quid pro quo with these guys.
“I mean, you need to demonstrate strength, they can sniff out weakness and they will crush you.”
Biden, meanwhile, described his meeting with Putin as "good" and "constructive" in a press conference held immediately after the summit.
"I must tell you, the tone of the entire meeting, I guess it was a total of four hours, it was good. Positive," he said.
"There wasn't any strident action taken, where we disagreed, I disagreed, I stated what it was. Where he disagreed, he stated, but it was not done in a hyperbolic atmosphere. There's been too much of that going on."
Biden also said that while he didn't make any "threats" towards Putin, he did warn the incumbent Russian leader there would be "consequences" including for future cyberattacks, and if Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison.
"He knows there are consequences," Biden told reporters in Geneva. "He knows I will take action."
Biden's predecessor former President Donald Trump took a different view of the meeting, slamming Biden's performance and calling the event a charade.
In a statement, Trump, who was routinely accused of cozying up to Putin and met with him in Helsinki in 2018, said Wednesday was a "good day for Russia.
"I guess overall we didn’t get anything, we gave a very big stage to Russia and we got nothing," Trump said.
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