Biden Refers To Zelenskyy As ‘President Putin’
Photo : AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Biden’s Mistaken Identity: President Biden mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as “President Putin,” which Zelenskyy later brushed off as a trivial error.
- Confusion Between Leaders: During the press conference, Biden also mixed up former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, leading to further scrutiny of his cognitive abilities.
For Joe Biden, the super-rare presidential press conference at the end of the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington was billed as a make-or-break event. And it was quite an eventful one for the 81-year old.
“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Joe Biden said, gesturing to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A second later Biden corrected himself. “President Putin?! He’s going to beat President Putin … President Zelenskyy.” The Ukrainian tried to take it as a joke, laughing: “I’m better.”
In an interview with BBC, Zelenskyy was asked again about the incident. Chris Mason, on behalf of the broadcasting agency asked the Ukrainian President, “Did your heart sink last week when President Biden standing right next to you introduced you as President Putin, of all people?” Zelenskyy replied, “No, he just made a mistake. Honestly, for me it means nothing”
Confusing the Ukrainian leader for his Russian counterpart was not the last thing that went wrong for Biden in that summit. During an hour-long news conference, the US president confused Donald Trump with his deputy, Kamala Harris.
The conference following the NATO summit was billed by White House staff as a “big boy” news conference, with Biden desperately seeking to redeem himself following his dismal debate with Trump two weeks prior. For a whole hour, he was grilled, with much of the inquiries centered around his mental health. For example, given that he refuses to concede to his veep, what worries does he have about Kamala Harris’s chances of defeating Trump?
Biden fielded a ton of questions that evening, even though at times his responses were unclear or seemed to go on forever. Throughout the news conference, Biden remained stubborn, stating that he would continue to run unless his team informed him that he couldn’t win. “Nobody is stating that,” he said.