Biden Memoir Says Putin Acted ‘Like a Teenager’ and Faults Zelenskyy
Joe Biden, in his memoir “Promise Me, America,” writes that Vladimir Putin liked to slouch in meetings, “feigning indifference, like a teenager,” and that Volodymyr Zelenskyy could be moody and stubborn.
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Excerpts published by The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Nov. 13, preview “Promise Me, America,” which is scheduled for release on Tuesday.
Biden Likens Putin to a Teenager
The former president writes that Vladimir Putin “liked to slouch during a meeting, feigning indifference, like a teenager.”
The Clash Report post describing Putin as “petulant and dismissive” during meetings paraphrases that passage. The Journal’s excerpt cites Putin’s “petulant tone” and the slouching, teenage-indifference image.
Biden also writes that members of Donald Trump’s transition team asked him to sign a letter authorizing direct talks with Putin before Trump took office again.
He refused, “unwilling to give them carte blanche for what I expected would be a kind of surrender, at Ukraine’s expense.”
The request came in the interval after Trump’s 2024 election victory and before the inauguration, when the outgoing administration still controlled official contacts with Moscow.
Biden Faults Zelenskyy in Private
Of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden writes that he “could be moody and stubborn in our private conversations, and not as grateful as I would have expected.”
He also credits Zelenskyy’s acting background, saying it “turned out to be very good training” for wartime leadership.
Biden was in office when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and made U.S. military support for Kyiv a central part of his foreign policy.
The comments land as the war continues and U.S. officials discuss future security arrangements with Kyiv.
Memoir Settles Scores After Midterms
The Journal reported that the book, arriving after a strong midterm showing for Democrats, lets Biden answer critics of his Afghanistan withdrawal and his 2024 campaign.
In other excerpts, Biden accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of putting political survival ahead of Israel’s long-term interests and acknowledges the civilian toll in Gaza.
On Afghanistan, he writes, “I would make the same decision again,” while acknowledging that then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “were both troubled by the implications of the decision.”
The memoir also recounts pressure from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to end his 2024 bid after a poor debate against Trump. Biden writes that he later mended his rift with Pelosi over lunch.
Kamer Kurunç
Kamer Kurunç is the Team Leader of Clash Report and has led the outlet for four years. He oversees its breaking world news coverage, from the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war to defense and global politics. His focus is fast, verified, source-based reporting. Follow him on X at @kamerknc.
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