Biden confuses his presidents in another embarrassing gaffe — moments after fuming, ‘My memory is fine!’
President Biden confused two foreign leaders and their countries in yet another gaffe — moments after fuming “My memory is fine” during a hastily scheduled news conference at the White House.
During his brief address to the nation Thursday night, Biden, 81, brought up the Israel-Hamas war and said he worked with the president of Mexico to help send aid into the war zone.
“As you know, initially, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in [to Gaza],” Biden said. “I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate.”
Biden had failed to mention that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is from Egypt and isn’t Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, two men the US president has met in recent years.
The mix-up had come minutes after Biden said his memory was “fine” in response to a scathing report released earlier in the day by special counsel Robert Hur on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.
In his report, Hur said a jury would characterize the octogenarian as an “elderly man.”
“[A]t trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
According to Hur, Biden had forgotten several key dates from his life, which the president blamed on the interview being the days after Hamas terrorists launched their Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The gaffe is just the latest in a line of many Biden has made since taking office in 2021, sparking concerns over his mental acuity as he seeks a second term in office.
Joe Biden's classified documents probe report
- Special counsel Robert Hur determined that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after leaving office as vice president in 2016.
- The records kept by Biden included documents on military and foreign policy in Afghanistan as well as other national security and foreign policy issues.
- Biden kept the classified documents in part to assist with the writing of his memoirs. According to the report, Biden told a ghostwriter in a 2017 conversation that he had “just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
- Despite the findings, Hur’s 388-page report recommended that the president not face charges.
- The special counsel noted that Biden would likely present himself to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” if he were to face trial.
When he was in Manhattan on Wednesday, Biden told Democratic donors that he had spoken with the late former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — four years after the European politician’s death.
Earlier this week, Biden confused sitting French President Emmanuel Macron with former leader Francois Mitterrand, who died nearly 30 years ago.
Following a week filled with blunders, the White House defended Biden’s mix-ups Thursday afternoon as something everyone does.
“Look, as it relates to the names and what he was trying to say, look, many people, elected officials, many people — you know, they can misspeak sometimes, right?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters
Jean-Pierre gave several examples of other government leaders mixing up names when referring to something else, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying Iran instead of Israel on Sunday.
“It happens to all of us and it is common.”
With Post wires
