When Selina Wang of ABC News, ABC’s White House correspondent, asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre about Biden’s gaffes, KJP gave a wild defense, arguing that Biden has always made gaffes. That came on Friday, February 9, shortly after Biden mixed up the leaders of Egypt and Mexico in a press conference after Special Counsel Hur’s report claimed he had serious memory issues.
Kicking things off, Wang asked, “You’ve downplayed concerns about the President’s memories in situations where he has mixed up certain things. You’ve said it happens and it’s common. But yesterday, we saw the President again have a mix-up with the President of Egypt with the President of Mexico. So, how do you explain that? Is it not valid that voters would have these concerns?”
Replying, KJP first made the point that Biden has known many world leaders for decades now, so he occasionally mispeaks. She said, “Look, what I would say is this: This is a president that has rela- — this has had relationship with world leaders for more than 40 years. He has. And at times — and I even said this yesterday — does he has — has he, you know, misspoken, as many of us do?”
While a reasonable point generally, it’s difficult to see how it applies given that Mexico and Egypt are very different countries, both have relatively new leaders, and the names of those leaders, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sound nothing alike. Further, the situations America faces as regards each nation are quite different, with the Israel-Gaza fight being the main issue in the context of Egypt and the migration crisis with Mexico.
In any case, KJP continued. Doing so, she tried to turn the attacks on Biden’s mental health against Republicans, pointing to a mistake Speaker Johnson made a few days before. She said, “I’ve laid out some examples of even Speaker Johnson just on — on TV, on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, who — who said he — he supports Iran when he meant to say he supports Israel. It happens. It truly, truly happens.”
Then, returning to Biden, she made the dubious claim that the answer Biden gave when he mixed up the names of those leaders was “incredibly detailed.” She said, “In that same answer that he gave, he actually gave an incredibly detailed answer on the overlapping dynamics in the Middle East as he was — as he was responding to the question that he received from one of your colleagues.”
For reference, watch Biden’s “incredibly detailed” answer here:
Continuing, she got to the jaw-dropping part of her defense of Biden, saying that he has always been gaffe prone, so his latest memory failure isn’t that concerning. She said, “And look, I — I want to quote one more — one more person, as I’ve been quoting folks this — today. Yair Rosenberg at The Atlantic said, ‘Biden has gaffe- — gaffed names his entire career.’ His entire career. It is not uncommon that he has done that, like many of us do. And he said, ‘He was — he was clearly — and he was clearly talking — clearly talking about Egypt, and named Sisi, and laid out his policy and the broader issues in detail. Twitter just isn’t interested’ in that. Right?”
Concluding, she returned to the point that Biden has been in positions of power for a long time now, saying, “And so, look, this is a president who has the experience. He has been — and you’ve heard me say this: He has been senator for 36 years; he’s been, obviously, pres- — vice president for 8; and now president. He has these long, long relationships with leaders.”
Concluding, she claimed, “I think what’s important here is to remember is that when it comes to the essence of the issue, the issue at hand, he understands that and has dealt with that — probably, you know, better than, you know, any modern-day president because of the record that we have seen, because of what has presented in front of him as we look at what’s going on in the world, what’s going on in Ukraine, what’s going on in the Middle East.”
Watch KJP here:
"*" indicates required fields