President Joe Biden said this week that he spoke with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 2021, despite the fact that the former leader died in 2017. Biden’s apparent gaffe followed a similar statement in which the president said that he spoke with former French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in the 1990s.
Biden made the comments on Wednesday, saying that he spoke to Kohl in 2021, four years after his death. “Then 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 there’s 1000 broken down the doors of the British Parliament,” Biden relayed.
BREAKING: A White House pool report tonight said that President Biden appeared to mistakenly suggest that Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany who passed away in 2017, accompanied him during his first foreign trip as President in 2021. Angela Merkel was actually the… pic.twitter.com/jqFqMSNsXV
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) February 8, 2024
Despite the comments, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in office at the time of Biden’s supposed conversation.
The Wednesday comments followed a similar retelling of past events by the president last week.
On Sunday, the president told a rally in Las Vegas that he spoke to Mitterrand after the 2021 election. At first the president appeared to say that Mitterrand was from Germany, then corrected himself and said that he was from France.
Biden said that he told the dead French leader that “America’s back.” He then spoke about his reaction to the Jan. 6, 2021 protests and said that the “Chancellor of Germany” compared the protest to the hypothetical storming of the British House of Commons. Mitterrand left office in 1995 and died in 1996.
During the period Biden said that he had the conversation, current President Emmanuel Macron was in office.
Following the comments, the president won the Nevada state primary Tuesday.
The comments highlight increasing concerns over the president’s age as he seeks reelection. At 81, Biden is currently the oldest president in American history. Should he win another term in November, he will leave office at 86.
A number of recent polls show that a large majority of the American people expressed concern over Biden’s age and his mental health.