United States President Joe Biden, who is under intense scrutiny over his advanced age, on Thursday introduced Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) event and later at a solo press conference in Washington, DC mixed up the names of his vice president, Kamala Harris with the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"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,81, said at the NATO summit in Washington, DC on July 11, drawing gasps from those in the room.
After a two second pause, he immediately corrected himself and said, "Going to beat President Putin, President Zelenskyy. I am so focused on beating Putin."
Zelenskyy responded to Biden's comments with 'I am better (than Putin)', to which Biden replied 'You are a hell of a lot better', as some in the room laughed, before Zelenskyy began his own address.
Fellow leaders at the NATO summit fielded questions about Biden, and their answers have largely been supportive.
"We all slip up sometimes," said French President Emmanuel Macron, "It's happened to me and it could happen again tomorrow. I would ask for your indulgence."
Later, at a solo press conference, Biden was repeatedly asked about the concerns over his age on his candidacy.
He responded with 'I've gotta finish the job'.
In another embarrassing gaffe, he mistakenly referred to his Vice-President Kamala Harris as 'Vice-President Trump'.
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So start there," Biden stated as he responded to a question about his confidence in Harris.
"The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for President. I beat him once and I will beat him again," Biden said.
"The idea that senators and Congressmen are running for office worrying about the ticket is not unusual. And I might add, there were at least five presidents running or incumbent presidents who had lower numbers than I have now later in a campaign," he said.
So, there's a long way to go in this campaign and so I'm just going to keep moving, he said.
Trump pounced on the verbal stumble to to post on Truth Social to highlight the moment.
'Crooked Joe begins his 'Big Boy' Press Conference with, 'I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.' Great job, Joe!' Trump wrote, along with a video clip of the moment.
Biden's re-election campaign has been struggling for the past two weeks, following his debate performance against his opponent Trump, who is 78 years old.
Meanwhile, four more Democrats in the House of Representatives called on Biden to end his campaign: Brad Schneider of Illinois, Greg Stanton of Arizona, Ed Case of Hawaii, and Hillary Scholten of Michigan.
"For our country's sake, it is time for the President to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders," Stanton said in a prepared statement.
Following this, some Senate Democrats said they were still uncertain about Biden's ability to win after meeting with Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon and other top aides.
-- with inputs from PTI
