On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, US President Joe Biden confused his allies — he accidentally called the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Putin, and Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump.
The first confusion occurred at a ceremony with the participation of NATO leaders. Biden, representing the president of Ukraine, called him Putin, but quickly corrected himself.
"Now I want to give the floor to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin," Biden said, before adding, "President Putin?! He [Zelenskyy] will defeat President Putin. Iʼm so focused on defeating President Putin that we have to worry about that."
The second time the confusion happened 1.5 hours later, during Bidenʼs communication with journalists, writes Bloomberg. The US leader was asked if he is ready to give way to his vice president, Kamala Harris, in the election race.
"I wouldnʼt have chosen Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didnʼt think she was qualified enough to be president," Biden responded.
His competitor in the presidential elections, Donald Trump, almost immediately took advantage of Bidenʼs mistake and wrote on his TruthSocial social network: "Good job, Joe!".
Biden called himself the most qualified candidate for re-election to the post of state leader and the only one who can defeat Trump. "I believe that I am the most qualified person to govern and the most qualified person to win," he said.
The American media called this press conference the most important in Bidenʼs career and key for his campaign — after an unsuccessful performance at a debate with Donald Trump.
Almost immediately after the press conference ended, even more Democrats called on Biden not to run for re-election, namely three members of the House of Representatives. As The Hill writes, former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is already putting pressure on Biden in private. She is asking Democrats not to nominate Biden as the partyʼs nominee.
- This yearʼs presidential election in the USA will be held on November 5, 2024. This will be the 60th presidential election in the history of the country, during which the 47th president of the USA will be elected. Former US President, billionaire Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden received the required number of delegate votes to be nominated for the US presidency. Neither Trump nor Biden will officially become the partyʼs nominees until national conventions vote this summer to elect them.
- On June 27, 2024 , Biden and Trump held a televised debate, which the former actually lost. Biden said he "almost fell asleep" and generally regretted not listening to his advisers and not getting enough rest before the debate with Trump. He attributed the fatigue to his busy schedule and a series of business trips abroad for summits and meetings.
- 81-year-old Bidenʼs health failed in general. After that, a number of media outlets wrote that despite criticism and predictions , Joe Bidenʼs family convinced him not to leave the presidential race.
- On June 3, CNN wrote that some of the leaders of the US Democratic Party want Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential election. Lloyd Doggett, a member of the House of Representatives, was the first to publicly make the call. Then one of the main donors of the Democrats, the actor George Clooney, as well as the editorial board of The New York Times, Democratic Senator from the state of Vermont Peter Welch and a number of analysts asked Biden to withdraw from the election. They are all convinced that Biden is too old for the presidency.