President Joe Biden laughed off mixing up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday when confronted about it at his first solo press conference this year.
Biden accidentally introduced Zelensky as the man who invaded his country on Thursday at the NATO summit in Washington. Later in the evening, the president held a press conference and he was confronted about the mistake, which he corrected, in the second question.
Danny Kemp of AFP asked:
You now have sort of your key allies, including the British prime minister, the prime minister of France, the German chancellor having to step in and make excuses for you on that. Officials off the record here are saying that your decline is becoming noticeable. Hasn’t this now, frankly, become damaging for America’s standing in the world?
Biden called the conference “one of the most successful” he’s attended in a “long time.” The conference came amid numerous calls for him to drop his reelection campaign over concerns about his stamina and age.
“Did you see any damage to our standing in my leading this conference? Have you seen a more successful conference? What do you think?” he asked the reporter.
On the Putin/Zelensky mistake, Biden noted that he quickly corrected himself and then proceeded to say multiple other names afterward.
“And then I added five other names. Look, guys, the idea that anybody suggests that we haven’t had an incredible, successful conference…how many times did you hear in that conference — I know it sounds too self-serving, but other leaders, heads of state thanking me and saying the reason we’re together is because of Biden, because Biden did the following,” he said.
After he flubbed his introduction of Zelensky, Biden told the crowd, “He’s gonna beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we gotta worry about it.”
The president also made a mistake answering his first question of the night, accidentally referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
Watch above via Fox News.
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