President Joe Biden was speaking at the U.S-Russia summit in Geneva when he accidentally referred to Vladimir Putin as Donald Trump, but quickly corrected himself.
Joe Biden, 78, made a minor snafu when speaking at the U.S.-Russia summit in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, June 15. The president was delivering a speech at the podium when, on accident, he briefly referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as former U.S. President Donald Trump. “I caught part of President Trum…uh, Putin’s press conference,” Biden said. Video of Biden’s gaffe was shared by users on Twitter, which you can see below.
Biden met with Putin, 68, on June 16 as part of his first trip abroad since being inaugurated as the 46th U.S. president in January. The political leaders spoke at the lakeside Villa La Grange for nearly four hours, according to Reuters. Discussions at the meeting reportedly centered on cyber attacks, the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and more.
Ahead of the meeting, Biden called Putin a “worthy adversary,” according to USA Today. After the meeting, Biden reportedly told reporters, “I did what I came to do.” Biden departed for the overseas trip on June 9 and has already attended the Group of Seven meeting in the United Kingdom and the NATO summit in Belgium.
Biden’s relationship with Putin strongly contrasts to that of Trump’s. While in office, Trump, 75, was criticized for cozying up to Putin and refusing to accept evidence that there was Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. In a recent interview with NBC News, Putin said that Trump was “an extraordinary individual, talented individual.”
Trump has kept a low profile since leaving office in January — largely due to being banned from multiple social media platforms. He made an appearance at a rally in North Carolina on June 5, during which he was criticized for apparently wearing his trousers backwards. Joy Behar of The View was among the many to mock the 45th president. “This guy’s running around with pants that looked like he pooped in them or something!” Behar, 78, joked to her co-hosts. “It’s weird.” Trump did not respond to the buzz.