Joe Biden defiant despite calling Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy 'President Putin', as calls grow for him to stand down

12 July 2024, 08:19

Joe Biden has insisted he won't quit the US presidential race despite calling Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy 'President Putin', in yet another in a series of blunders that has led critics to question his suitability for the top job.

The US president said that if he slowed down and "can't get the job done", that would show he was unfit. "But there’s no indication of that yet," he told reporters.

Mr Biden was speaking in Washington at the end of the three-day NATO summit when he introduced Mr Zelenskyy by the name of the Russian leader, sparking audible gasps.

And in a second gaffe at a press conference an hour later, he also referred to Kamala Harris as vice-president Trump.

He caught himself after the Putin mistake and corrected the error, but he appeared not even to notice the Harris-Trump confusion.

Joe Biden calls Zelensky 'President Putin'

Mr Biden was attempting to allay fears about his age, and his ability to win re-election, on Thursday night.

Political commentators said it was the kind of event he needed to pull off - if he was to hold onto support after a meandering, error-strewn and sometimes incomprehensible debate against Donald Trump last month.

Many Democrats and influential donors have called for him to step down, either privately or publicly - including George Clooney.

But instead of calming fears about his mental state, Mr Biden exacerbated them with the slip-ups.

The president has repeatedly refused to end his bid to retain the White House after his disastrous performance in the debate.

He insists he is the best candidate to beat Mr Trump in November despite mounting pressure to step aside.

Mr Biden's Trump-Harris mix-up came after the Zelenskyy-Putin error, during a press conference.

In the first question he took from journalists, Mr Biden confused Kamala Harris with Donald Trump.

A reporter asked: "What concerns do you have of Vice President Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket?

To which, Mr Biden replied: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President if I didn’t think she was qualified to be President so let’s start there.”

The President also swerved further questions from the press on his abilities to serve another four years in office.

At a press conference at the conclusion of the Nato summit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeatedly dodged questions about Mr Biden's first blunder.

Responding to questions about his mental capacity, the Prime Minister told journalists "I would urge everyone to look at the substance of what's been achieved over these two days" over support for Ukraine.

He said: "When we think of the global threats, that is the best possible outcome we could have had today and so I think he deserves credit for that, as does the team that worked with him.

"We close this council with renewed confidence and resolve to meet the challenge of Russian aggression. That is the outcome we all hoped we would get to and President Biden led us through that."

Sir Keir sidestepped a question about whether Mr Biden was capable of serving four more years in the White House, instead again focusing on the outcomes of the Nato summit.

Before Mr Biden's latest slip-up, Sir Keir had told broadcaster their one-to-one discussions had happened "at pace" and Mr Biden seemed on "good form".

"We were billed for 45 minutes, we went on for the best part of an hour," he said.

"He was absolutely across all the detail. We were going at pace through a number of issues."

Asked whether the president was senile, Sir Keir told the BBC: "No... he's shown incredible leadership."

LBC's political editor Natasha Clark described it as a "gaffe of monumental proportions".

Democratic congressman Greg Stanton became the latest in a line of politicians and celebrity backers to distance themselves from Joe Biden - asking that he steps aside in the race for re-election.