Hours before a high-stakes press conference aimed at dispelling concerns about his cognitive health, President Joe Biden appeared to confuse the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.
“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said as he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO event in Washington on Thursday.
After taking a step away from the podium, the president turned back around and corrected himself. “President Putin? He’s gonna beat President Putin! President Zelenskyy.”
“I’m better [than Putin],” Zelenskyy joked as he shook Biden’s hand.
Follow live coverage and watch Biden’s press conference on NBCNews.com.
Biden has been the world’s leading champion of Ukraine throughout two years of bloody warfare to turn back an invasion from Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin.
The gaffe comes as the embattled president doggedly tries to assuage the public and his own party that after a disastrous debate performance, he has the mental and physical stamina to be commander in chief and defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
In the two weeks since the debate, Biden has seen several members of his own party call on him to leave the race. He has insisted that he won’t step aside and remains fit for the job.
At Biden’s last press conference, in February, where the president angrily denounced a special counsel report that called him “significantly limited,” Biden referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “president of Mexico.”
