Remarks by the Vice President Prior to Departure from Rome, Italy

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, guys. How are you?

Q: Hello, sir.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good.

So, let me just say a couple words. First of all, we're thrilled to join the first papal mass with the first American pope, Pope Leo XIV.

He and I had a very good conversation with Secretary Robi- -- Rubio this morning. We talked about a number of diplomatic issues. And I think, you know, the Vatican -- in particular, the pope -- is going to be a great advocate of world peace. And obviously, I serve a president, I think -- is a great advocate of world peace. And so, we're going to find some very important things to work together on.

So, I appreciate you guys coming. I hope you guys had fun. Happy to take a few questions before we actually hit the road here.

Q: I just have a question. So --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q: -- Trump is supposed to talk with President Zelenskyy today. And I'm just curious: You know, where does the U.S. stand for the negotiation? Is the U.S. still open to walking away from negotiations? Are you guys committed to seeing it through, if, you know, you don't (inaudible)?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Well, look, I'd say we're more than open to -- to walking away. The president is supposed to talk to -- to President Putin of Russia and President Zelenskyy as well, and I'm sure he'll talk to a number of world leaders today, because he always does that.

But, you know, look, the president has been very clear. This is not -- the United States is go- -- is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.

And the first major outcome that we wanted to see, which we were glad about, is that we wanted the Russians and the Ukrainians to put a real peace proposal on the table. "What would you need to do in order to stop fighting?" That happened. The second thing is they needed to agree to direct talks with one another. These sides hadn't talked in years. We thought that was a disgrace. That has now happened.

But now, you know, the talks have been proceeding for a little while. We realize there's a bit of an impasse here. And I think the president is going to say to President Putin, "Look, are you serious? Are you real about this? Because the proposal from the United States has always been, look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the rest of the world, but you're not going to get those benefits if you keep on killing a lot of innocent people. So, if you're willing to stop the killing, the United States is willing to be a partner for peace." That's been the proposal to the Russians, to the Ukrainians, and, frankly, to nations and other hot spots around the world.

I won't prejudge the president's conversation. I actually was just on the phone with him. I know he's looking forward to it, and I wish him all the best. I think he's the right guy to negotiate for the country, and I'm -- I'm excited about it.

Q: Mr. Vice President, Axios is reporting that you de- -- decided against a trip to Is- -- a visit to Israel after this trip because of the Israeli military's expansion of their operation in Gaza. Is that accurate, or is there a reason for not moving on to Israel?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I thi- -- I think there's a lot of overstatement there. I haven't seen the story, to be clear, so I don't want to speak to the details.

But the simple reason is, we thought about going to Israel. We also thought about going to a couple of other countries that the president would like me to visit here in the next few months. Logistically, it was just a little bit too hard on -- on basic things like who the hell is going to take care of our kids if we take another couple of days overseas.

But on -- on some -- some more serious things, like how do we provide security, how do we make sure that we get ever- -- all the assets that we need in order to do the right official delegation.

So, I'm sure we'll visit Israel sometime in the future, but not today.

Q: And just another question --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q: -- on Russia and Ukraine. You know, from the administration's point of view, what seems to be the obstacle in trying to get this ceasefire deal?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I don't know. It's a good question, but there -- there are so many different things that are obstacles that it's hard to pinpoint one in particular.

Look, I think one open question is: Is Vladimir Putin serious about negotiating peace? Right? He has made some concessions, he has taken some serious steps in these conversations, but we -- we feel like, you know, we're at a point where we're hitting an impasse, and that's why the president is talking to him on the phone.

You know, I think, honestly, that President Putin -- he doesn't quite know how to get out of the war. If you think about this, he's got a million men under arms. He's reengineered his entire economy. What used to be manufacturing facilities making, you know, products for people to use in their civilian life, they're now making tank shells and artillery shells and drones.

And so, this is a little bit of a guess, but I think the president would agree that part of this is I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war, of course, that's been going on for a few years now.

And I -- I think there's also just a little bit of -- look, there's fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It's one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid -- that -- that we should be able to move beyond the mistakes that have been made in the past. But that takes two to tango. I know the president is willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to have to say, "This is not our war. It's Joe Biden's war. It's Vladimir Putin's war. It's not our war." We're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say, "You know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing it anymore."

Q: Last question.

Q: Oh, no. You go.

Q: Speaking of Joe Biden, sir, do you have any thoughts on --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Sure.

Q: -- his diagnosis?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Look, I mean, first of all, of course, we wish the best for the former president's health. And, you know, it sounds pretty serious, but -- but hopefully he makes the right recovery.

Look, I will say, whether the right time to have this conversation is now or at some point in the future, we really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job. And that's -- that's no -- you know, that -- that -- you can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with the recognition that whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president, I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people. And that's not politics. That's not because I disagreed with him on policy. That's because I don't think that he was in good enough health.

In some ways, I blame him less than I blame the people around him. And why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?

This is serious stuff. And this is the guy who carries around the nuclear football for the world's largest nuclear arsenal. This is not child's play. And we can pray for good health but also recognize that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job.

Okay. Thank you, guys.

Q: Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Have a safe trip. See you.

Q: You too.