At the solo news conference presumably held to prove that he’s up to the job, President Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be vice president,” Biden answered on a question about what he thought of Harris’ prospects should she become the Democratic nominee.
Biden also disputed reporting that he needs “limits” to his schedule, including going to bed earlier.
“Look, what I said was instead of my every day starting at 7 [a.m.] and going to go to bed at midnight, it would be smarter to pace myself,” he said. “If you looked at my schedule since I made that stupid mistake in my campaign, at the debate, my schedule has been full bore.”
The president claimed he has been more active than Donald Trump.
“He’s done virtually nothing,” Biden said, “and I’ve done roughly 20 major events. ... I just think it’s better, I always had an inclination whether I was playing sports or doing politics, just to keep going…. I just got to pace myself better.”
Shortly before the solo press conference, Biden introduced Volodymr Zelenskyy as the Ukrainian president’s Russian adversary during the NATO summit in Washington.
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies & gentleman, President Putin,” Biden said.
While walking away from the microphone, the president realized he made a gaffe in referring to Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin, returning to the lectern to correct himself.
“President Putin? He’s going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President,” Biden said.
“I’m better,” Zelenskyy responded.
“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden replied.
Biden was set to hold a solo press conference at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in an attempt to put to rest the criticism that he should not carry on with his re-election campaign amid his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.