Joe Biden refers to Zelenskyy as 'President Putin' in awkward moment at Nato summit as calls grow for him to step aside
11 July 2024, 23:12 | Updated: 12 July 2024, 01:22
Joe Biden's referred to Ukraine's president - as President Putin - before correcting himself, while introducing Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak on stage at the Nato summit.
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The US president was speaking in Washington at the end of the three-day summit.
He is holding a Nato-related news conference tonight, as he attempts to calm doubts about his age, and his ability to win re-election.
Political commentators say it's the kind of event he needs to pull off - if he's to hold onto support.
Mr Biden has repeatedly refused to end his presidential bid after his disastrous performance in last month's CNN debate against opponent Donald Trump.
He insists he is the best candidate to beat Mr Trump in November despite mounting pressure to step aside.
Joe Biden calls Zelensky 'President Putin'
Following the mix up, the President then made another gaffe afterwards 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.
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"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".
In the last few hours, Democratic congressman Greg Stanton's 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.
Hollywood actor and major Democratic Party donor George Clooney has also called for Biden to drop out the race.
