Biden's faux pas: Refers to Ukrainian President Zelensky as 'President Putin' amidst age concerns
Washington DC: U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday had several verbal slip-ups at the NATO summit in Washington, a concerning incident for the 81-year-old as he attempts to dispel worries about his age and suitability for re-election.
While verbal gaffes have been a part of Biden's long political career, partly due to overcoming a childhood stutter, they are drawing increased scrutiny following his poor debate performance against Republican candidate Donald Trump last month, according to Reuters.
Trump, who is 78 and also faces age-related concerns, frequently made false claims during the debate and often rambled in his campaign speeches, the report said.
Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy 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," Biden said at the NATO summit, drawing gasps from those in the room.
"Going to beat President Putin, President Zelenskiy. I am so focused on beating Putin," Biden corrected himself.
However, this was not all. Here is a summary of Biden's faux pas on Thursday.
During a Thursday evening news conference, Biden confused the name of his vice president, Kamala Harris, with his rival Trump.
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So, start there," Biden said in response to a question from Reuters about his confidence in Harris.
At the same news conference, Biden struggled to find the words "chiefs of staff," mistakenly referring to the group of the country's top uniformed military leaders as "commander in chief," a title he holds as president.
"And so our military is working on following the advice of my commander in chief my, my, my, the chiefs of staff, of the military as well as the secretary of defense and our intelligence people."
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