White House says no new intelligence led to Biden’s nuclear ‘Armageddon’ comment

No new intelligence led to President Joe Biden saying on Thursday that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a White House spokeswoman said Friday. Briefing reporters aboard Air Force One, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said there is no information that Russia is preparing to “imminently” use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine. Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a guy I know fairly well” and the Russian leader was “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Jean-Pierre said Biden was criticizing Putin’s comments about nuclear weapons.