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President Biden said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was losing the “war in Iraq” when he meant to say Ukraine — the second time in about 12 hours he mixed up the two war-torn nations.
Biden, 80, is the oldest-ever US president and is running for re-election next year — with his mental acuity already a major issue.
“He’s [Putin’s] clearly losing the war in Iraq. He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” Biden told reporters on the White House lawn as he departed for a day trip to Chicago.
On Tuesday night, the president made the exact same error while speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Md.
“Think about this,” Biden said. “If anybody told you — and my staff wasn’t so sure, either — that we’d be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it’s not likely.”
The error was noted in an official White House transcript of Biden’s remarks, with “Iraq” crossed out and “Ukraine” added in parentheses.
