House GOP Walking Away from Russian Threat, Biden Warns

President Joe Biden on Monday accused House Republicans of “walking away from the threat of Russia.”

While walking gingerly in the cold from Marine One and across the White House lawn with first lady Jill Biden, Biden briefly stopped to answer a couple of reporters’ questions, as seen on C-SPAN.

After saying he’d be willing to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Biden then was asked whether he would “go as far as to say that Alexei Navalny’s blood is on the hands of House Republicans right now?”

Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison Friday, Russia’s prison agency said.

Biden later blamed Putin for Navalny’s death and warned there could be consequences, saying he was “not surprised” but “outraged” by the opposition leader’s passing.

Conservative lawmakers have refused to support aid to Ukraine until Biden and Democrats agree to stricter border security measures to deal with the migrant crisis.

The president on Monday said the GOP is “making a big mistake” regarding Russia.

“The way they’re walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they’re walking away from NATO, the way they’re walking away from meeting our obligations, it’s just shocking. I mean, they’re wild. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Biden said.

The reporter followed up to ask whether Navalny’s death might nudge the House Republicans to take up Ukraine aid.

“I hope so, but I’m not sure anything’s going to change,” he said.

Another reporter asked whether the president was looking into imposing sanctions against Russia following Navalny’s death.

“We already have sanctions but we are considering additional sanctions, yes,” he said before turning and walking toward the White House

The Democrat-led Senate on Tuesday passed a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Taiwan. A $66.3 billion bipartisan House bill to fund military aid to those countries and tighten border security was unveiled Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.