2024-02-08T16:22:15+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ It has become almost common for US President Joe Biden to get confused and slip up. For the second time in a week, the Democratic leader confused a European leader with her deceased predecessor, saying during an election event that he met German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, instead of Angela Merkel.
Biden, 81, made the gaffe late Wednesday, days after he said he spoke to late French President Francois Mitterrand instead of current President Emmanuel Macron, while also referring to the same G7 summit in June 2021.
Biden, who is seeking re-election in November, often repeats the same story about the summit in Britain, to highlight what he describes as global concerns about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said, ‘What would you say, Mr. President, if you picked up the Times of London tomorrow morning and learned that a thousand people had broken down the doors of the British Parliament and killed some people on their way inside to prevent the prime minister from taking office?'” Biden said, according to a media report.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the leader attending the summit, while Kohl, known as the architect of German reunification after the Cold War, died in 2017 after serving as chancellor for 16 years between 1982 and 1998.