President Joe Biden drew gasps when he mistakenly identified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russian President Vladimir Putin while introducing him to the stage, at an event on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
While the US president subsequently corrected himself, saying Zelenskiy would “beat President Putin,” the gaffe was quickly highlighted by Republicans on social media and further underscored Biden’s propensity for verbal missteps.
Separately, the number of House Democrats calling on Biden to withdraw rose to more than a dozen, including Ed Case of Hawaii and Greg Stanton from Arizona.
“For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the president to step aside as our nominee,” Stanton said in a statement.
🚨🇺🇸🇺🇦 Holy shit! Biden just introduced Zelensky as “PRESIDENT PUTIN.”
“And now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine… ladies and gentlemen – President Putin.”
pic.twitter.com/0E2NPDbVAq— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) July 11, 2024
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday declined to offer Biden a full-throated endorsement, saying on MSNBC that “it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run.”
Pelosi suggested the alliance’s summit in Washington would be a pivotal moment for Biden to demonstrate leadership on the world stage, urging colleagues to “hold off” voicing their opinions on the president “until we see how we go this week.”
Many Democrats ignored that advice. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first sitting Democratic senator to publicly endorse replacing Biden as the nominee.
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