White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mistakenly referred to President Joe Biden as “President Obama” during an awkward press briefing on Thursday.
Speaking in front of the White House press corps, Jean-Pierre slipped as she announced that the president had nominated former MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga to lead the World Bank.
KJP called Joe Biden as President Obama. pic.twitter.com/lEgAoxa5ko
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) February 23, 2023
“So today, as you all saw just an hour or so ago, President Obama announced that — um, pardon me, President Biden!” she said, triggering laughter from the audience.
“Whoa! Ahem, that is news,” she continued. “I know, I know. We’re going back, not forwards. We got to go forward.”
Jean-Pierre, who was named to succeed Jen Psaki as press secretary in May 2022, is a longtime adviser to Biden dating back to his time as Obama’s vice president.
The embarrassing gaffe received wild responses on social media, with many users calling it a “Freudian slip,” or the unintentional revelation of secret thoughts and feelings that people hold.
“That was no mistake,” one netizen wrote. “Obama is giving the orders to everyone including KJP. nother slip of the tongue like that and she might not be around much longer.”
“Oops, she just told the whole world who’s running the show,” another wrote. “Running this country into a third world status on purpose.”
Similarly, Biden, 80, has repeatedly called Vice President Kamala Harris the president, including as recently as last month.
The president was speaking about immigration at the White House in January when he singled out Harris.
“President Harris led this effort — led this effort to make things better in the countries from which they are leaving,” he said.
And during Harris’ birthday on Oct. 20, Biden also referred to the vice president as “President Harris” as he greeted her.
“Happy birthday to a great president,” he said.
During the same event, Biden also struggled with a stutter while trying to pronounce the name of Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, noting she was unable to attend the event.
This comes as officials grow concerned over Biden’s physical and mental well-being, especially after he admitted in an interview last year that his age is “a legitimate thing to be concerned about.”
