BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Biden refers to Ukraine as ‘Iraq’ when asked about Putin

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

maylen

https://digital-stage.newsnationnow.com/

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241114185800

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241115200405

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118165728

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118184948

President Biden this week mistakenly referred to Ukraine as Iraq on two occasions, mixing up the names of recent areas of conflict.

Biden was asked Wednesday to what extent Russian President Vladimir Putin has been weakened by the aborted rebellion in Russia. In his response, he switched out Ukraine for the war that started with a U.S.-led coalition invasion into Iraq and ended in 2011.

“It’s hard to tell, but he is 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,” the president said at the White House.

“It’s not just NATO, it’s not just the European Union, it’s Japan,” he added.

The White House did not respond to a request for comments on the word swap.

The president is known to make gaffes in off-the-cuff remarks, including in response to questions from reporters. He also has in the past slipped up on words before correcting himself. 

Biden, 80, made the same mistake during a campaign reception in Maryland on Tuesday night, referring to Ukraine as Iraq. 

“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 one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO,” Biden said.

He often speaks much more candidly at such events and tends to make news with his unscripted remarks, such as when he called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator last week. 

On Tuesday night in Maryland, Biden also briefly flubbed the homeland of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the White House last week.

“You probably saw my new best friend, the prime minister of a little country that’s now the largest in the world, China — I mean, excuse me, India,” he said.

The president’s comments on Putin come after the mercenary Wagner Group and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhi led a rebellion over the weekend that ended through a negotiated deal between Prigozhi and Putin. The Wagner chief has since fled to Belarus.

Putin has publicly been outraged over the rebellion and it’s led to questions over what the negotiated deal means for the future of the war in Russia. 

Updated at 11:59 a.m.

The Hill on NewsNation

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241119133138

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Sunny

la

59°F Sunny Feels like 59°
Wind
1 mph WNW
Humidity
37%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
47°F Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph NNE
Precip
9%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous