borrow for those investments, if we were paying -- pres. biden: good afternoon. i'm heading off to east palestine at the moment but wanted to see a few things this morning about alexei navalny. like millions of people around the world i'm literally both not surprised and outraged by the news. the reported death of alexcih navalny. he bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence, and the -- all the bad things that putin was doing. in response, putin had him poisoned. he had him arrested. he had him prosecuted for fabricated crimes. he esent him to prison. he was held in isolation. even all that didn't stop him from calling out putin's lie. 9/11 prison he was a powerful

voice for the truth. which is kind of amazing when you think about it. and he could have lived safely in exile after the assassination attempt on him in 2020 which nearlykied him, i might add. but he was traveling outside the country at the time. instead, he returned to russia. rurped to russia. knowing he'd likely be imprisoned. or even killed. he continued his work. but he did it anyway. because he believed so deeply in his country, in russia. reports of his death if they're true, and i have no reason to believe they're not, russian authorities are going to tell their own story. make no mistake. make no mistake. putin is responsible for navalny's death. putin is responsible. what has happened to navalny is yet nor proof of putin's brutality. no one should be fooled, not in russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world. putin does not only target citizens of other countries as

we've seen what's going on in ukraine, he also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people, and people across russia and around the world are mowshing navalny today because he was so many things putin was not. he was brave. he was principled. he was dedicated to building a russia where the rule of law existed. and where it applied to everybody. navalny believed in that russia. that russia. he knew it was a cause worth fighting for. and obviously even dying for. this tragedy reminds us of the stakes of this moment. we have to provide the funding so ukraine can keep defending itself. against putin's vicious onslaughts and war crimes. there was bipartisan senate vote that passed overwhelmingly in the united states senate to fund ukraine. now as i've said before and i mean this in a literal sense, history is watching. history is watching the house of representatives.

the failure to support ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten. it's going to go down in the pages of history. it really is. it's consequential. the clock is ticking. this has to happen. we have to help now. we have to realize what we're dealing with with putin. all of us should reject the dangerous statements made by the previous president, that invited russia to invade our nato allies that weren't paying up. he said if an ally didn't pay their dues he'd encourage russia to do, quote, whatever the hell they want. i guess i should clear my mind here a little bit and not say what i'm really thinking, but let me be clear. this is an outrageous thing for a president to say. i can't fathom, can't fathom,

the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves hearing. this as long as i'm president america stands by our sacred commitment to nato allies as he was stood by their commitment to us repeatedly. putin and the world should know, if any enemy were to attack us, our nato allies would defend us. and if putin attacks a nato ally, we will attack. i send my deepest condolences to alexei's saf staff and supporters who are going to continue his work despite this loss. despite putin's desperate attempts to stamp out the opposition. and most of all to his family, especially to his wife, his daughter, his son, who have already sacrificed so much for their family and a shared dream for a better future for russia. so i just want to say god bless alexei navalny, his courage will not be forgotten. i'm sure it will not be the only

courage we see coming out of russia in the near term. thank you. i'm happy to take some questions. reporter: was it assassination? pres. biden: we don't know exactly what happened but there's no doubt that the death of navalny was the consequence of something that putin and his thugs did. reporter: to be clear, you washed vladimir putin, when you were in geneva, of devastating consequences if navalny died in russian custody. what consequences should he and russia face? pres. biden: that was three years ago. they've faced a lot of consequences. they lost or had wounded over 350,000 russian soldiers. they've positioned where they're subjected to great sanctions across the board. and we're contemplating what else can be done. what we were talking about at the time there were no actions being taken against russia. and that -- look at all that

transpired since then. reporter: are you looking at increasing sanctions on russia? pres. biden: we're looking at a number of options, that's all i'll say right now. reporter: anything you can do to get ammunition to ukrainians without congress? pres. biden: no, but it's about time they step up, don't you think? instead of going ton a two-week vacation. two weeks they're walking away. two weeks. what are they thinking? my god. this is bizarre. and it's reinforcing all the concern and almost -- i won't say panic but real concern. about the united states being a reliable ally. this is jut outrageous. >> are you more confident you'll get ukraine aid given what's happened today? pres. biden: i hope to god it helps but i mean, the idea that we need anything more to get ukraine aid, i mean, this is -- in light of former president's statement that -- saying russia,

if they haven't paid their dues to us, go get them. come on. what are these guys doing? what are they doing? reporter: how about the anti-satellite capabilities that russia is developing and what is your administration planning to do in response? pres. biden: first of all, there is no nuclear threat to the people of america or anywhere else in the world with what russia is ding at the moment. number one. number two, anything that they're doing or they will do relates to satellites in space and damaging those satellites potentially. number three, there's in evidence that they have made a decision to go forward with doing anything in space either. so what we found out, there was a capacity to launch a system into space that could theoretically do something that was damaging. hadn't happened yet. and my -- my hope is it will

not. reporter: thank you, mr. president. switching gears for a moment, have you prevented a credible -- presented a credible evacuation plan to the nearly .5 million palestinians sheltering in gaza? and what would be the consequence if they move afford with invasions in gaza without evacuating them? pres. biden: i've had several conversations with the prime minister of israel, several hours, and i feel there has to be a temporary cease fire to get the prisoners out. to get the hos amgs out. and that is under way, i'm still hopeful that that can be done. and in the meantime, i don't anticipate -- i'm hoping that the israelis will not make any

massive land invasion in the meantime. so it's my expectation that's not going to happen. there has to be a ceasefire temporarily to get those hostages, by the way, we're in a situation where there are american hostages. american citizens who are being held hostage. it's not just, not just israelis. it's american hos ams as well. and you know, my hope and expectation is we'll get this hostage deal, bring the americans home and the deal is being tboashted now and we're going to see where it takes us. reporter: and f.b.i. inform ant at the center of the impeachment inquiry into you has been indicted for allege think lying. your reaction and should the inquishry be dropped? pres. biden: he is lie, it should be dropped, it's been an

outrageous effort from the beginning. see you in ohio. >> thank you all so much.