President Biden appeared to refer to prepared answers during his White House news briefing Monday.
Asked to address his remark Saturday in Poland that suggested U.S. support for regime change in Russia, Biden insisted he was not "walking back" his comments.
"I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the actions of this man," he responded with the prepared answer, "I was not advocating a change in policy."
At the conclusion of Saturday's speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Biden had said, "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power."
In an apparent move to separate his wish for Putin's future from an official policy, the president called the Russian leader's behavior "outrageous" and said his comments about him were "more an aspiration than anything."
The cue cards also included a response to questions regarding NATO: "NATO has never been more united."