The president had nearly made it through his entire talk without any major gaffes, relying on teleprompters throughout. However, toward the end of the speech, the 81-year-old POTUS confused Zelensky with Russian President Vladimir Putin who has been at war with Ukraine for the past two and a half years.
"And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination," Biden said. "Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin." It was followed by a short silence then an awkward round of applause as world leaders onstage appeared unsure of whether to clap or wait until Biden corrected himself.
? JUST IN: BIDEN INTRODUCES ZELENSKY AS “PRESIDENT PUTIN”
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President PUTIN”
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— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 11, 2024
One audience member shouted "Zelensky!" to correct Biden. Appearing to have finally realized his mistake, he faced back the podium and apologized for the embarrassing blunder. "President Putin? We're going to beat President Putin – President Zelensky. I'm so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it," Biden said as his alibi.
The Ukrainian leader, 46, scowled and shook his head before joking, "I'm better." "You are a hell of a lot better," Biden responded.
Zelensky then shrugged off the gaffe, coming to the rostrum to laud NATO for creating a compact, which serves as little more than a consolation prize after Ukraine did not receive a formal invitation to join the 32-country alliance at the three-day summit.
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The "faux pas" happened when leaders of NATO nations gathered to announce the signing of the Ukraine Compact, a new security agreement between Kyiv and the U.S. and allies including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, a mere hour after the major error, Biden committed another blunder when he referred to his Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump" during a crucial press conference to defend his campaign for a second term in office.
A Reuters reporter asked him whether he felt confident that Harris could take on former President Donald Trump if she were asked to step up to the top of the ticket and replace him as the nominee for the presidency. "Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn't think she was not qualified to be president," he said. "The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I'll beat him again," he continued.
Never realizing that he had just done another slip-up, he continued blaming his stumbling and at points seemingly delirious debate performance on a big international trip he had embarked on the week before while seeming to blame his aides for over-scheduling. He said: "I just have to pace myself a little more. For the next debate I won't be traveling through 15 timezones the week before, that's what it was about."
"I love my staff but they add things all the time, I'm catching hell from my wife, but anyway, um, I'm sorry," he said.
Biden stands firm on continuing his re-election bid despite calls for him to withdraw from the race
At the highly anticipated news conference, Biden also addressed concerns about his "worsening" campaign. He promised that he was fighting not for his legacy, but to "finish the job he started" when he took office in 2021. "If I slow down and can't get the job done, that's a sign I shouldn't be doing it," he claimed. "But there's no indication of that yet."
Biden seemed the happy warrior. He laughed and smiled as he was peppered with questions and said he could keep up with Putin and China counterpart Xi Jinping, even if the hoarseness and cough that had been on display during his debate two weeks ago still appeared to linger. He also insisted he didn't need cognitive tests, telling reporters that if he ever saw "two doctors or seven," his critics wouldn't be satisfied.
The election campaign, he said, had barely started, and he again repeated that he was confident he could beat Trump in November's election. He said he would consider stepping aside if his staff gave him data that he couldn't win, but that polls still show the race a dead heat.
The Democratic delegates who will back him officially as the party's nominee at next month's convention were free to change their minds as they pleased, he said, before mock whispering: "It's not going to happen."
Minutes after the news conference finished, several Democratic members of Congress still publicly called on Biden to step down, joining at least a dozen other lawmakers. They expressed concern about the gaffe-after-gaffe instances that their party flag bearer has been recently committing. (Related: Say what? Biden identifies as the "first Black woman VP" to serve with a Black president.)
JoeBiden.news has more stories related to the president's recent gaffes and blunders that are raising concerns about his cognitive health.
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