US President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelynskiy as “President Putin” on Thursday, as more members of his Democratic party called on the 81-year-old to drop his re-election bid.
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said at the NATO summit in Washington, drawing gasps from those in the room.
“Going to beat President Putin, President Zelenskiy. I am so focused on beating Putin,” Biden said while correcting himself.
The gaffe came shortly before a highly anticipated news conference where Biden hopes to ease fellow Democrats’ fears that he no longer has the ability to beat Republican Donald Trump in the November election, or to lead the country for another four-year term.
So far, 13 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate’s 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race.
