President Joe Biden snapped at CNN White House correspondent Kaitlin Collins after his first summit with Vladimir Putin after she questioned his "confidence" in theRussian president.
At the end of his Wednesday press conference, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, following his meeting with Putin, Biden was walking off the stage when Collins, who had not been called on by the president, yelled out a question: "Why are you so confident he [Putin] will change his behavior, Mr. President?"
'You're in the Wrong Business'
Biden stopped in his tracks and turned back to walk towards Collins before laying into the reporter. "I'm not confident he'll change his behavior! What the hell...what do you do all the time? When did I say I was confident? I said...what I said is, let's get this straight...I said what will change his behavior is if the rest of the world reacts then it diminishes their standing in the world."
The president then reiterated that he was not "confident in anything" before noting that he was just presenting the facts. Collins then continues to elaborate on her question.
"But given his past behavior, after the press conference, he denied any involvement in cyberattacks, he downplayed human rights abuses, he even refused to say Alexei Navalny's name," Collins asked. "So how does that account to a constructive meeting?"
Instead of answering the question, Biden slams the reporter by saying, "If you don't understand that, you're in the wrong business," before walking away.
Biden Apologizes to Collins, She Responds
Before boarding the Air Force One, Biden walked over to a group of reporters gathered on the tarmac and said he "owed" the CNN reporter an "apology."
"I owe my last questioner an apology," Biden said. "I shouldn't have been such a wise guy with the last answer I gave."
Biden, however, complained that journalists "never ask" him positive questions. "To be a good reporter, you got to be negative, that you got to have a negative view of life, it seems to me," Biden said.
Collins later responded to Biden's apology saying it was "unnecessary." "That is completely unnecessary from the president," Collins said after a clip of Biden's apology was broadcasted on her network. "He did not have to apologize. Though I do appreciate that he did, there in front of the other reporters as he was about to get on the Air Force One to go back to Washington."
