Joe Biden Mistakenly Refers to VP Kamala as ‘President Harris’

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - JANUARY 08: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden (R) looks on as U.S. Vic
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “president” Thursday while delivering remarks at the White House regarding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Biden suffered this latest brain freeze when addressing how minorities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, underscoring the importance of distributing the coronavirus vaccine to such communities.

“The hardest hit that have suffered the most — especially black, Latino, Native American, and rural communities,” Biden said.  “We believe speed and efficiency must be matched with fairness and equity, now when President Harris and I took a virtual tour of vaccination center in Arizona not long ago, one of the nurses on that tour injecting people, giving vaccinations, said that each shot was like administering a dose of hope.”

At no point did the president correct his verbal blunder.

Biden, who is no stranger to verbal flubs, erroneously referred to then Vice President-elect Harris as “president-elect” back in December.

“I hope the president will clearly and unambiguously urge all Americans to take the vaccine once it’s available,” Biden said at the time, before noting that Harris had received the Moderna vaccine on live television earlier in the day. “I took it to instill public confidence in the vaccine. President-elect Harris took hers today for the same reason.”

In August, Biden sparked discussions about Harris assuming the presidency, perhaps after the president-elect’s first term, when he said that he selected Harris as his running mate because she is “ready to lead on day one.”

“If @KamalaHarris and I are elected, we’re going to inherit multiple crises, a nation divided, and a world in disarray. “We won’t have a minute to waste,” Biden tweeted at the time. “That’s exactly why I picked her: She’s ready to lead on day one.”

In September, Harris referred to the “Harris administration” during a virtual roundtable on the economy.

“A Harris administration, together with Joe Biden as the president of the United States,” she said before quickly correcting the comment.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.