In yet another gaffe, US President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" at a Nato event on Thursday (local time), amid growing concerns over his age and fitness to serve another term.
Biden, joined by 32 allies and foreign leaders for the announcement of the "Ukraine Compact," a new initiative to bolster aid to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, was inviting Zelenskyy to speak when he made the verbal faux pas.
The 81-year-old Democrat initially began to walk offstage before realising his error and returning to correct himself. "Zelenskyy is gonna beat President Putin," he added.
Zelenskyy appeared to take the misstep in stride, responding with a lighthearted comment. "I'm better," he said.
Biden replied, "You're a hell of a lot better."
At a so-called "big boy" solo press conference shortly afterwards, the US President fumbled his second-in-command Kamala Harris's name, referring to her as "Vice President Trump" while answering the first question fielded to him.
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she's not qualified to be president," Biden said, as top Democrats, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin looked on stony-faced.
Biden coughed frequently and occasionally garbled his responses at the outset of the news conference, but his responses grew steadier as he fielded questions from reporters.
The verbal slips come at a critical time for Biden, who is facing mounting criticism over his age and mental acuity following a disastrous debate performance last month against Republican rival Donald Trump.
The press conference was seen as a make-or-break moment for the US President on the world stage amid a growing clamour from allies and adversaries alike for him to pull out of the 2024 race.
So far, 13 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate's 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to Biden to end his re-election campaign. More could make their concerns public if he fares poorly in the coming days.
Former US President Donald Trump quickly seized on Biden's flub to unleash on the Democrat. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, he said, "Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference with, 'I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.' Great job, Joe!"
When asked about Trump mocking him over his verbal blunder, Biden laughed and quipped, "Listen to him."
Later, in a tweet, the US President attempted further damage control with a cleverly crafted response to his Republican rival's jab.
"By the way: Yes, I know the difference. One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon," Biden tweeted, taking a swipe at Trump over his conviction in the hush money case.
