President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” on Thursday, just hours after he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.”
During a press conference, Biden was asked by a reporter for his thoughts on Harris’ ability to beat former President Donald Trump “if she were at the top of the ticket.”
“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [inaudible] think she was not qualified to be president, so let’s start there,” Biden replied. “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, “I served in the Senate a long time. The idea that senators and congressmen running for office worry about the ticket is not unusual, and I might add, there are at least five presidents, running or incumbent presidents, who had lower numbers than I have now.”
Mere hours before the gaffe, Biden also confused Ukrainian President Zelensky with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he introduced Zelensky to the stage.
Biden was asked about the mistake during the Q&A portion of his press conference on Thursday.
“You mixed up presidents Zelensky and Putin earlier today and you now have sort of your key allies, including the British prime minister, the president of the France, and the German chancellor, having to step in and make excuses for you on that,” observed a reporter for AFP. “Officials here are saying off the record that your decline has become noticeable. Hasn’t this now frankly become damaging for America’s standing in the world?”
Biden, visibly angry, snapped back, “Have you seen a more successful conference?”
Watch above via C-SPAN.
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