Joe Biden confuses Macron with former French president Mitterrand - who died nearly 30 years ago
Joe Biden has appeared to confuse Emmanuel Macron with former French president Francois Mitterrand in his latest gaffe.
The US president made the blunder while speaking to hospitality workers in Las Vegas while recounting a story about a G7 summit in 2021.
The 81-year-old said he told the meeting, which took place in Cornwall, that “America is back”, with “Mitterrand from Germany” responding.
He then corrected himself to “Mitterrand from France” - despite the fact that Francois Mitterrand died in 1996.
He said: “Mitterrand from Germany — I mean, from France — looked at me and said, ’You know, what ... why … how long you back for?”
Mr Biden then went on to discuss the 2021 US Capitol insurrection attempt, recounting: “And I looked at him and the Chancellor of Germany said: ‘What would you say, Mr President, if you picked up the paper tomorrow in the London Times, and the London Times said, ‘a thousand people break through the House of Commons, break down the doors, two bobbies are killed in order to stop the election of the Prime Minister’. What would you say?’”
The White House later appeared to correct the remarks in a transcript of the comments, replacing the name ‘Mitterrand’ for ‘Macron’.
Francois Mitterrand was the President of France from 1981 to 1995, and is the longest holder of the position in country’s history.
Mr Biden, who is the oldest sitting US president and would be 86 by the end of his second term if re-elected, has a history of public speaking gaffes.
His critics claim that it is evidence of declining mental faculties as a result of his age, but supporters of Mr Biden say it is his normal ‘folksy’ style when speaking.
Last month, Mr Biden's rival, 77-year-old Donald Trump, faced criticism for appearing to mix up challenger Nikki Haley with former House Speaker, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi, during a discussion about the January 6 riots.
Mr Biden mocked Trump for the gaffe, writing on X, formerly Twitter: "I don’t agree with Nikki Haley on everything, but we agree on this much: She is not Nancy Pelosi."