Joe Biden confuses Emmanuel Macron with deceased French leader Francois Mitterand | US News
Joe Biden appeared to confuse French President Emmanuel Macron with his predecessor Francois Mitterand, who died in 1996.
In a campaign speech in Las Vegas, the US president was remarking on how the leaders of France and Germany reacted when they saw him at a G7 summit after the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
Recounting their exchange shortly after he was elected, he also referred to Mitterand as “from Germany”, before quickly correcting he was from France.
“I sat down and I said ‘America’s back’ and Mitterand from Germany, I mean from France, looked at me and said how long are you back for,” he said.
Mitterand served as president of France from 1981 to 1995.
Biden added that then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked him how he would react if he saw thousands break through the House of Commons in the UK to stop the election of a prime minister.
“I never thought about it from that perspective,” he said.
“What would we say if that happened in another democracy around the world?”
His comments, made on Monday night, came less than a day before he appeared to freeze while updating reporters on a potential hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
