President Joe Biden of the United States mistakenly referred to former President Donald Trump as Vice President on Thursday.
Biden committed the error while addressing the initial query during his highly-anticipated individual press briefing in Washington.
Mistaking Vice President Kamala Harris for Trump, Biden said: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president.”
A journalist highlighted Biden’s slip-up in the concluding question of the conference, prompting the president to address the mistake after Trump utilized it to ridicule him.
Upon being questioned, Biden reacted with a smile and remarked, “Listen to him,” before exiting the stage.
The press conference on Thursday was advertised as a prime opportunity for Biden to demonstrate to Democrats his ability to handle difficult inquiries and exhibit quick thinking in an unscripted setting.
The pressure for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 electoral race has been mounting for weeks, following his dismal performance in a debate against Trump on June 27, coupled with his campaign’s failure to alleviate voters’ apprehensions about his well-being.
Merely four minutes after departing the stage, Rep. Jim Himes from Connecticut, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement urging Biden to step down from the race.
While firmly rejecting any insinuation that he should or would abandon the race, Biden asserted that there was nobody more competent than him to defeat Trump in the November elections.
Nevertheless, Biden did acknowledge that he would contemplate ending his candidacy if his team approached him and asserted that there was “no way” he could emerge victorious.
