Biden blames Russia after promising not to blame Russia

Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday that the soaring gas prices impacting American wallets are out of his hands. 

“They’re gonna go up,” said Biden when asked about prices at the pump. 

The reporter then asked the President of the United States what he plans to do about it. 

“Can’t do much right now,” answered Biden. “Russia's responsible.” 

Biden appears to be taking a very different approach to his job than the one he took in 2020 while campaigning against former President Donald Trump. 

At that time, he had assured Americans he would never blame others. 

“It’s hard to believe this has to be said, but unlike this president, I’ll do my job and take responsibility,” Biden tweeted on June 4, 2022. “I won’t blame others. And I’ll never forget that the job isn’t about me – it's about you.” 

Gas prices have skyrocketed to all-time highs with the national average shooting past $4 a gallon and past the record last set in 2008 just before the Great Recession.

In fact, they have been climbing since Biden took office. 

On the first day of his presidency, the average gallon of regular unleaded cost $2.37. And on that day, he shut down the Keystone XL oil pipeline. 

By February 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, gas had already shot to $3.59. 

But that hasn’t stopped Biden from blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for high gas prices.  

Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki blamed Russia outright. 

“The reason why the price of gas is going up is not because of steps the president has taken. They are because President Putin is invading Ukraine, and that is creating a great deal of instability in the global marketplace,” Psaki said. 

Then again on Monday, Psaki said that the climb in gas prices “is a direct result of the invasion of Ukraine” and that “federal policies are not limiting the supplies of oil and gas”, despite the fact that Biden is refusing to increase domestic production.