US President Joe Biden raised concerns after he mistook a European leader with a deceased predecessor, saying at a campaign event that he met Helmut Kohl four years after the German chancellor died.
Biden's mistake late Wednesday occurred just days after he claimed to have chatted with long-dead French president Francois Mitterrand, rather than current leader Emmanuel Macron, at the same G7 conference in June 2021 where he claimed to have met Kohl.
Biden, who is running for reelection in November, frequently uses the same tale about the gathering in the United Kingdom to demonstrate what he claims were global fears about the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by followers of former President Trump.
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"Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said, 'What would you say Mr President, if you picked up the London Times tomorrow morning and learned that 1,000 people had broken down the doors... of the British Parliament and killed some (people) on the way in (to) deny the prime minister to take office,'" Biden said, according to a pool report.
Kohl died in 2017, having served as chancellor for 16 years, from 1982 to 1998, and became known as the architect of German reunification during the Cold War.
Polls reveal that US voters are increasingly concerned about Biden's age. He'd be 82 at the start of his second term and 86 at the end.
The White House downplayed the name confusion, pointing out that Biden had met numerous international leaders over his long tenure as senator, vice president, and now president.
"Elected officials, many people, they can misspeak sometimes," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a conference.
