Atlantic writer slams CNN for quoting Biden’s call for Putin to be removed from power

Contributing writer for The Atlantic and former Lincoln Project adviser Tom Nichols faced a social media onslaught for criticizing CNN for reporting on President Biden’s comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Saturday, Nichols tweeted a screenshot from CNN’s "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" during a discussion on Biden’s speech in Poland. During the speech, Biden made his first explicit call for Vladimir Putin’s removal from officer since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war.

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"For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden said during a speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.

The CNN chyron read "Biden: Putin Cannot Remain In Power." In response, Nichols called the network "irresponsible" for highlighting Biden's comments and for framing it as a "war aim." 

"This is irresponsible. This chyron makes it seem like this is somehow a war aim," Nichols tweeted.

Several users pointed out that the chyron was Biden’s exacts words, but Nichols continued to argue that CNN and other outlets were leaving out important context in regards to Biden’s comments.

"I can’t blame them for taking his words and putting them in a chyron, but without context, it makes it seem like this is now what the war is about," Nichols later said.

While Nichols was quick to criticize people who blamed Biden for this "irresponsible" display, he later wrote an article acknowledging the quote as an "unforced error."

"What Biden was doing, of course, was being Joe Biden. He was speaking for all of us, from the heart. One of the more endearing things about the president—at least for those of us who admire him—is that he has almost no inner monologue and regularly engages in the kind of gaffe where a politician says something that is impolitic but true," Nichole wrote on Saturday.

The White House quickly walked back Biden’s original comment after his speech, insisting that Biden was not calling for a regime change in Russia.

"The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change," a White House official told Fox News Digital shortly after the speech concluded.

Nichols himself criticized the White House for attempting to bury an obvious gaffe.

"This is correct - but just gonna say again, if everyone has to get out there and clarify what the President *really* meant, then he shouldn't have ad libbed it. This is not the time for improvisation," Nichols tweeted.

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Nichols continued on Sunday to criticize reporters who reported Biden’s words without attempting to clarify them.

"I just wrote a whole piece about why I think this is a gaffe, but unlike Jimmy Olson here, I decided to actually include the part where the administration tried to clarify what they meant. During an international crisis, one might think this is something journalists should do," Nichols tweeted.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.