US President Joe Biden defends himself after Zelensky introduces him as Putin

Addressing a press conference after the NATO summit in Washington DC, Biden asked reporters if they had seen a more successful summit.

Responding to a question on his comments confusing Zelensky with Putin, Biden said, “Have you seen any damage to our position in the lead-up to this summit? Have you seen a more successful summit than this? What do you think? And the Putin part, I was talking about Putin and I said, “And now at the very end, I said here, I mean Putin. I said, no, I'm sorry, Zelensky”. Then I added five other names.”

“Look, guys, if anybody suggests that our summit was not incredibly successful, how many times did you hear that at that summit? I know it sounds very selfish, but other leaders and heads of state thanked me, said the reason we are together is because Biden, because Biden did the following. It was my most successful summit in a long time and I met a world leader who didn't think that way,” he said.

Biden's statement came after he introduced the Ukrainian president as President Putin and later corrected his mistake.

In his remarks at an event on the Ukraine Compact, Biden said, “I'd now like to turn it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much resolve as he has courage. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”

He quickly corrected himself and said, “He's going to beat President Putin — President Zelensky. I'm so focused on beating Putin that we have to worry about this.”

After calling Zelensky Putin, Biden confused Vice President Kamala Harris and former US President Donald Trump.

When asked if he had concerns about Harris' ability to defeat Donald Trump if she did not run for re-election, Biden responded, “Look, I would not choose Vice President Trump as vice president. But, I think he's not qualified to be president.”

Donald Trump mocked Biden's verbal mistakes during the press conference on his social media platform Truth Social.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “Crooked Joe started his 'Big Boy' press conference with, 'I would not have chosen Vice President Trump to be my Vice President even though I thought she was unqualified to be President. Great job, Joe.'”

In response, Biden said in a post on X, “By the way: yes, I know the difference. One is a prosecutor, and the other is a criminal.”

Biden's verbal gaffe comes at a time when he is being closely watched over his advancing age. US President Joe Biden has vowed he will stay in the race until the end of the November election, even though Democrats have privately asked him to drop out.

Biden has firmly stood his ground and told congressional Democrats in a letter Monday that he will continue his effort to contest the election despite growing concerns about his mental state.

Biden said he wouldn’t run for re-election “if I wasn’t confident I could defeat Donald Trump.”

He said, “I want to tell you that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I remain firmly committed to staying in this race, to staying in this race until the end, and to defeating Donald Trump.”

Furthermore, he also said, “We have 42 days until the Democratic Convention and 119 days until the general election,” Biden said in a letter distributed by his reelection campaign. In the letter, Biden called for unity among his party, stressing the need for a collective effort to defeat former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

“Any weakness in resolve or lack of clarity about the work ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It's time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump,” Biden said.

The letter comes after a group call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in which four congressmen explicitly urged Biden to step down. Some wealthy donors have also reportedly expressed discomfort. Hollywood's Rob Reiner, who regularly donates to Democratic candidates, said he thinks Biden should step down “because if Trump wins we will lose our democracy.”

At the same time, some of the president's biggest supporters are doubling down on Biden's fight for the presidency, insisting there's no better way to defeat Trump than in what many consider one of the most important elections of their lifetimes.