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President Biden on Thursday mistakenly referred to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin,” the authoritarian Russian leader currently invading the Eastern European nation.
Introducing the Ukrainian leader at the launch of the Ukraine Compact, Biden misspoke, returning to the microphone after realizing his mistake to say: “He’s going to beat President Putin, President Zelenskyy.” “I’m better,” Zelenskyy said. “You’re a helluva lot better,” Biden replied.
Biden’s counterparts quickly sought to downplay the mistake. “We can all have a slip of the tongue. It’s happened to me, it’ll probably happen to me again tomorrow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference when asked by Semafor about his impressions of the US leader, emphasizing that Biden had been sharp and well-prepared throughout the summit.
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The slip-up came at the worst time, shortly before a highly touted media appearance — Biden’s aides have jokingly called it a “Big Boy” press conference — that Democrats have been looking towards as a gauge of the president’s acuity after his debate with Donald Trump two weeks ago.
In the lead-up to the press conference, several House Democrats came forward individually throughout the day to call on Biden to step down. In the case of Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat in a Republican-leaning district in Washington, she went further by suggesting he consider resigning over health concerns.
Biden’s campaign entered a more acute crisis phase on Wednesday after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a respected figure inside the party, cast doubt on whether his decision to continue running for re-election was final. She pointedly suggested he and the party revisit the topic after the NATO summit so as not to undermine the president on the world stage.
Notable
- President Biden’s taken some serious hits from inside his party over the last 24 hours, but backup from his supporters has been relatively quiet and disorganized our Congressional team writes. Some Democrats also told Semafor they believe additional members are currently refraining from criticizing Biden only while he’s at the NATO summit.
- Politico reported that as many as six Democrats were prepared to come out against Biden if he performed poorly in his press conference.