On Sunday, President Biden appeared to confuse French President Emmanuel Macron with a former leader of the European country who has been dead for nearly three decades.
During a campaign speech in Las Vegas, the 81-year-old president incorrectly recalled speaking with former French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996, during a 2021 meeting with world leaders.
“It was in the south of England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back,’ and Mitterrand from Germany, I mean France, looked at me and said, ‘you know what? Because? How long are you coming back?’” Biden said. referring to the conversation at the G7 summit in which NATO chiefs discussed the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
“And I looked at it, and the… and the Chancellor of Germany said, ‘What would you say, Mr. Speaker, if tomorrow you picked up the London Times newspaper and the London Times said, ‘A thousand people storm the House of Commons, The doors are broken down, two Bobbies are murdered to prevent the election of a Prime Minister. What would you say?’
A portrait of French President Francois Mitterrand during his visit to Saint Benoit in Reunion on February 9, 1988. Sygma via Getty Images
“I never thought about it from that perspective,” Biden continued. “What would we say if that happened in another democracy in the world?”
In the official transcript of the White House speech, it is noted that Biden said Mitterrand, but he was supposed to say Macron, who has been French president since 2017.
Biden appeared to confuse the former French leader with current President Emmanuel Macron. AFP via Getty Images
Mitterrand served two terms as president between 1981 and 1995. He died on January 8, 1996 at the age of 79.
Biden’s latest gaffe is one of many verbal gaffes he has made since taking office.
Mitterrand died almost three decades ago. Sygma via Getty Images
Biden’s speech mostly took aim directly at Trump, accusing the former president of leaving the nation in a “mess” before leaving office.
Trump, 77, appears on track to secure the Republican nomination to face Biden in this year’s presidential election, a rematch of the 2020 election.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn