President Biden confused two foreign leaders and their countries in yet another blunder — moments after blurting out “My memory is fine” during a hastily scheduled press conference at the White House.
During his brief address to the nation on Thursday night, Biden, 81, raised the Israel-Hamas war and said he was working with the Mexican president to help send aid to the war zone.
“As you know, in the beginning, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open the door to allow humanitarian material to enter. [to Gaza],” Biden said. “I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate.”
Biden has failed to mention that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is from Egypt and is not Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, two people the US president has met in recent years.
The mix-up came minutes after Biden said his memory was “good” in response to a scathing report released earlier in the day by special counsel Robert Hur about Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.
In his report, Hur said the jury would characterize the octogenarian as an “old man.”
“[A]At trial, Mr. Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a failing memory.”
President Biden drew immediate backlash online after again confusing the names of foreign political leaders, this time while trying to emphasize his mental fitness. Reuters
According to Hur, Biden has forgotten several important dates in his life, which the president blamed in the interview as the days after Hamas terrorists launched the October 7 attack on Israel.
The blunders are the latest in a line Biden has made since taking office in 2021, sparking concerns about his mental acuity as he seeks a second term.
Joe Biden classified documents investigation report
- Special counsel Robert Hur ruled that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified material” after leaving office as vice president in 2016.
- Records kept by Biden include documents on military and foreign policy in Afghanistan as well as other national security and foreign policy issues.
- Biden kept some classified documents to help write his memoirs. According to the report, Biden told a ghostwriter in a 2017 conversation that he “just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
- Despite those findings, Hur’s 388-page report recommended that the president not face charges.
- The special counsel noted that Biden would likely present himself to jurors as a “sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a failing memory” if he stood trial.
When he was in Manhattan on Wednesday, Biden told Democratic donors that he had spoken with the late former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the Capitol riots Jan. 6 — four years after the European politician’s death.
Earlier this week, Biden confused sitting French President Emmanuel Macron with former leader Francois Mitterrand, who died nearly 30 years ago.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Luis Barron/eyepix via ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews.com Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Getty Images
After a week filled with mistakes, the White House defended Biden’s mix-up Thursday afternoon as something everyone did.
“Look, as it relates to the name and what he’s trying to say, look, a lot of people, elected officials, a lot of people — you know, sometimes they can get things wrong, right?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters
Jean-Pierre gave several examples of other government leaders mixing up names when referring to something else, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying Iran instead of Israel on Sunday.
“It happens to all of us and it’s normal.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
