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16th Mar 2022

Awkward moment Joe Biden accidentally calls Kamala Harris ‘the first lady’ while still married to Jill

Kieran Galpin

This isn’t the first time Biden has tripped over his words

In a truly cringe-worthy moment, President Joe Biden referred to his Vice President Kamala Harris as “the first lady” despite being married to his wife – and current First Lady – Jill Biden.

The awkward exchange took place on Tuesday March 15, with Biden drawing laughter from a crowd gathered to celebrate Equal Pay Day.

“There’s been a little change in arrangement of who is on the stage because of The first lady’s husband contacted covid,” he said in reference to Harris’ husband and First Gentleman, Douglas Emhoff, who recently contracted covid-19.

Someone to the side of Biden quickly corrected him, highlighting how his statement insinuated that he had caught covid. The moment encouraged the president to make light of the mix-up.

“That’s right,” he said as laughter erupted.

“She’s fine. Second lady – the first gentleman, how about that?”

Joking, he added: “I’m Joe Biden. I’m Jill Biden’s husband and proud of it.”

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz posted the clip to Twitter alongside the comment: “The First Lady’s husband has no idea what he’s saying….”

This isn’t the first time Biden has tripped over his words, having previously confused Iran with Ukraine. In his first major speech on the Ukraine crisis, Biden said “the heart and souls of the Iranian people” – and the blunder was not missed by political opponents.

Former Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka wrote: “Biden just said ‘Kiev’ and the ‘Iranian people’ #SenilePresident.”

The Kremlin released a “stop list” of US officials now banned from Russia earlier this week. The list included Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh, U.S. Agency for International Development chief Samantha Power, Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo, and U.S. Export-Import Bank chief Reta Jo Lewis.

More recognisable figures banned from Russia include former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, current President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

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