VIDEO: Biden calls UK PM Sunak ‘Mr President,’ jokes ‘I just promoted you’
Joe Biden greets Rishi Sunak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP
In another slip of the tongue, US President Joe Biden addressed Rishi Sunak as “Mr President" and laughed, saying, "I just promoted you!" during a high-stakes trade talks in Washington with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday.
The conversation has gone viral on social media platforms.
English broadcaster, journalist and television personality Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter, “Joe Biden, who fell over again last week, called Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘Mr President’ today — having previously called him ‘Rashid Sanook’ — and then forgot Winston Churchill’s name altogether in a rambling anecdote. His physical & cognitive issues appear to be worsening.”
On June 2, Biden fell on stage at the US Air Force Academy graduation and the White House said he was "fine” after tripping over a sandbag.
Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell.
He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his US Secret Service detail.
Onlookers, including some members of the official delegation on stage, watched in concern before Biden, who at age 80 is the oldest president in US history, returned to his seat to view the end of the ceremony.
Biden has been dogged by questions about his age and his fitness to serve, and his missteps have become fodder for political rivals as he campaigns for a second term in 2024.
He has stumbled before going up the stairs and onto Air Force One and he once got caught up in his bike pedals while stopping to talk to reporters near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
