Same story, same outcome.
For the third time this week, President Biden told his audience that he had discussed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol with European leaders who were actually killed at the time.
On Wednesday, Biden told Democratic donors in New York that he had discussed the riot with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Cole’s death predates the incident nearly five years ago.
The shocking gaffe came just days after the 81-year-old president confused French President Emmanuel Macron with the country’s former leader Francois Mitterand, who died in 1996.
Biden entertained donors Wednesday with anecdotes about his first foreign trip as president, to the 2021 G7 summit in Britain, after defeating former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. He made blunders in front of audiences at two separate fundraisers.
“I showed up … and sat down and said, ‘America is back.’ [French President Emmanuel] Macron looked at me and said, “For how long?” how long? I’m not kidding,” Biden recalled. pool report The president stopped by the home of Maureen White, whose husband Stephen Ratner manages the estate of billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“Helmut Kohl said, ‘Joe, if you pick up the phone and pick up a newspaper tomorrow, you’ll see on the front page of the London Times that 1,000 people stormed Parliament and broke down the doors of the House of Commons. So what would you think if you knew that you had murdered a member of the House of Commons and killed two bovies in the process… Are you trying to prevent the election of a prime minister?” he added.
Kohl, who served as German chancellor from 1982 to 1998, died in 2017, almost four years before the 2021 G7 summit.
At the time of the meeting of world leaders that Biden was referring to, the German chancellor was Angela Merkel.
About 50 guests, including actor Robert De Niro, witnessed the gaffe.
Biden also stopped by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel near Columbus Circle for an event hosted by Dr. Ramon Taraji, president and member of the nonprofit organization SOMOS Community Care. He also mentioned “Germany’s Helmut Kohl” when he told an almost identical anecdote. Mayor Eric Adams’ COVID-19 Recovery Task Force.
The president stumbled through the same story in Las Vegas on Sunday, with one of the only differences being that he recalled Mitterrand rather than Cole and offered a hypothesis.
“It was in the south of England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back,’ and Mitterrand, who was from Germany, who was from France, looked at me and said, ‘You know what? Why are you coming back and for how long?’” Biden said. Election speech.
Mitterrand served two terms as president from 1981 to 1995, and died on January 8, 1996, at the age of 79.
Biden’s latest gaffe is one of many he has made since taking office, raising concerns about his mental strength as he seeks a second term in office.
In one of Biden’s most notorious gaffes, he went after Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski at a White House event held eight weeks after her high-profile death.
“Senator Jackie, are you here? Where is Jackie?” the president asked from the podium during an event in October 2022. “I think she was planning on coming here.”
The gaffe came after Biden had already issued a lengthy statement mourning Walorski’s death.
Biden is already the oldest president in U.S. history, and if re-elected, he will be 86 years old at the end of his second term.
