President Joe Biden made two references to the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Wednesday former chancellor Angela Merkel While detailing the 2021 conversation campaign events.
It was the second time this week that Biden recalled speaking with a European leader who died years ago.
Biden arrived at a series of fundraisers in New York on Wednesday, months after the Jan. 6 riot, as he described talks he had with European leaders at the 2021 Group of Seven meeting of industrialized nations in the United Kingdom.
Biden said at both events that “Helmut Kohl,” who died in 2017, asked him how he would respond if he read about people storming the British Parliament and killing officers “to stop him from being elected prime minister.” Merkel participated in the summit to be held in Great Britain in 2021
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The remarks were not the first time Biden has mixed with European leaders this week.
Speaking at an event in North Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, Biden baffled former French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996, when he recounted his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during a summit in the first year of his presidency. .
Biden’s likely opponent in 2024, former President Donald Trump, has also had recent slip-ups.
At a campaign rally last month, Trump took a long shot at GOP challenger Nikki Haley, but seemed to have Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agrees. Trump – who has accused When Pelosi was Speaker of the House of Representatives on January 6, she refused 10,000 troops. exposed — said at the rally that Haley was in charge of security the day the Capitol was attacked.
Haley seized on Trump’s gaffe, questioning his mental state. In a campaign ad last week, he criticized both Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, for their age, calling them “grumpy old men.”
An NBC News poll last month found 76% of voters, including half of Democrats, said they were worried about Biden. mental and physical health. The national poll also found that 48% of voters expressed concern about Trump’s mental and physical health.