President Biden on Saturday appeared to mix up NATO with Ukraine when calling on House members to come back to Washington, D.C., to vote on a bill that would fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“The idea that we’re going to walk away from Ukraine, the idea that we’re going to begin to let NATO split is totally against the interests of the United States of America, and it’s against our word we’ve given since all the way back to Eisenhower,” Biden told reports in Delaware Saturday. “So it’s about time we make sure Congress come home and pass the legislation funding NATO.”
The Senate this week passed the bipartisan bill that would give $95.3 million in funding to the three allies for defense purposes, but the House of Representatives is on a two-week break and House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the House won’t “rush” to pass it.
The 81-year-old’s mental fitness has been under scrutiny since Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on the president’s mishandling of classified documents last week said he had a “poor memory.”
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote in the report explaining that the president would not face any charges.
The Republican National Committee’s rapid response X, formerly Twitter, account RNC Research seized on the gaffe posting a clip and writing, “Ukraine isn’t in NATO — neither are Israel and Taiwan.”
Biden, notorious for gaffes, also mixed up the presidents of Mexico and Egypt last week, and while speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference confused “red state and blue state” with “red state and green state” while giving his remarks.
“When I said — when I pushed these programs — I said I’m going to be the president of everybody we live in a red state or green state,” Biden said.
Former President Trump, the Republican frontrunner, has also had his share of gaffes, most recently appearing to confuse opponent Nikki Haley for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
