President Biden's speech Saturday in Poland affirmed to Russian President Vladimir Putin what he already long suspected – the U.S. wants him out of power, a Russia expert told Fox News Digital.
"Putin heard loud and clear a call for regime change," Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, said.
BIDEN SAYS PUTIN ‘CANNOT REMAIN IN POWER’ AS HE ASSURES UKRAINE: ‘WE STAND WITH YOU’
Speaking on the world stage about Russia's war on Ukraine, Biden said: "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power."
Putin has long suspected that Washington was working on regime change, possibly through a "color revolution" to orchestrate a civil society uprising to bring about his ouster, according to Koffler.
WHITE HOUSE WALKS BACK MULTIPLE BIDEN REMARKS DURING EUROPE TRIP ON PUTIN, CHEMICAL WEAPONS, TROOPS
So Biden's remark at the end of his address in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw confirmed Putin's suspicions, said Koffler, the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America."
Shortly after Biden's speech however, the White House denied that Biden was calling for regime change.
"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.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Koffler said the Biden administration understood they made a mistake at a time when Russia is hanging on their every word.
The cleanup shows the White House is not fully in control of the message, she said.
"I would be interested in knowing whether that was in his TelePrompTer or not, because people who create his speeches have a responsibility for the American people to minimize security threats," Koffler said. "And if they put something like that in his TelePrompTer, that means those people are incompetent."