The White House accidentally placed the wrong photo of the leader of Vietnam on a social media post after meeting with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong this week. The error followed a confusing press conference in which President Joe Biden’s press conference abruptly ended mid-sentence.
Unfortunately for the White House, the man in the photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, was not the president of Vietnam. Instead of Thuong the photo was of Biden greeting the Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
The best and brightest. Are the "fact checkers" on this one?https://t.co/yd8D1oua58
— JWF (@JammieWF) September 12, 2023
President Vo Van Thuong, thank you for such a productive meeting,” the photo’s caption read. “This partnership is about unleashing our peoples’ potential and, with it, a range of incredible possibilities.”
The White House deleted the tweet.
Biden traveled to New Delhi, India for the G20 summit prior to flying to Vietnam. Earlier in his overseas trip, the president was giving a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam when he told reporters that he was going to “go to bed” before a member of the staff ended the event.
Biden’s statements during the conference included several meandering sentences.
“I’ll just follow my orders here. Staff, is there anybody that hasn’t spoken yet? I ain’t calling on you,” he said.
He also used a similar line to one that gained attention during the 2020 campaign.
“The Indian looks at John Wayne and points to the Union soldier and says, ‘He’s a lying, dog-faced pony soldier!’ Biden said about those who doubted climate change.
Toward the end of the conference, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly ended the conference while Biden was speaking.
The president also received criticism from conservatives after saying that the United States does not “want to contain China.”
A member of the president’s staff then thanked reporters and told them that the event was over. One reporter asked the president if he was concerned about his son Hunter being indicted.
The president did not answer.
