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'The smirking President': Piers Morgan rips Biden for smiling during Ukraine press meet

Piers Morgan tweeted: 'Biden just laughed several times during his Ukraine press conference. What the f*ck is he finding so funny'

Piers Morgan had some harsh words for President Joe Biden's behavior during a press conference about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  The US president was seen laughing several times during the conference of February 24, which Morgan thinks is not appropriate for the occasion.

On Monday, February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian troops into two 'separatist' regions of Ukraine, after earlier recognizing their independence from Ukraine. Russia said it would be a 'peacekeeping' mission, but is speculated to be a potential pretext for placing troops in Ukrainian territory.  To discuss the matter, Biden held a press conference after 6:30 pm GMT on Feb 24 to announce sanctions against Russia as a way to combat Putin without military force. But, on such occasion, the president was seen laughing and it enraged Piers Morgan.

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Morgan took to social media to voiced his opinion about such an act, his tweet questioned whether Biden had struck the right tone given the seriousness of the situation. He tweeted, "Biden just laughed several times during his Ukraine press conference. What the f*ck is he finding so funny? Does he not realise the gravity of this situation? Does he not care that so many innocent people are being murdered? What a horribly inappropriate and shameful moment."

But many users disagreed with him. One Twitter user claimed to have watched the entire press conference without noticing Biden's laugh. Another praised it and wrote, "His speech was brilliant. And put Boris’ to shame. "Everything that Johnson’s wasn’t. Precise, informative, driven and decisive." Then, a little while later, Morgan tweeted a screenshot of Biden's face as he laughed during the conference to prove his claim. He wrote, "The smirking President of the United States, hours after Russia starts war in Ukraine. Unbelievable."

But, after having proven his claim, still Twitter users felt Morgan was giving the president unfair treatment because of his alleged affiliation with former president Trump.  One wrote: "If you watched the conference, you’ll know he was laughing at the chaos of press, asking Trump style questions." American businessman, Nickelodeon's 'Monsuno' series producer, Jeremy Padawar also commented, "I can only imagine what would happen if life were judged only in single frames." Another tweeted, "Once a tabloid journalist always a tabloid journalist. Taking something out of context to get a headline. With all that's happening this is what you focus on."

The White House website broadcast the press conference live and a recording does show President Biden smile at several points when journalists are offered question time. Just after 49:00 minutes, for example, he broke into a smile when the conference co-ordinators mistake the next journalist in line to ask a question. Again at around 49:30 minutes the conference hall erupts with hollering journalists and the president was seen smiling at the chaos in front of him. But most people tend to agree that Biden's smiles were only a way of putting on a brave face while the press tussled to ask questions.

One user tweeted, "World crisis and you’re bothered about him smiling after being bombarded with questions.Listen to what he said rather than how he looked." Another commented, "Imagine being upset because someone’s putting on a brave face. What do you want him to do? Storm out of the studio saying sorry, I can’t do this?"