Biden mistakenly calls Kamala Harris ‘Vice-President Trump’ at Nato press conference – live | Joe Biden
Key events
Biden says he thinks he is “the most qualified person to run for president”. He says he beat Donald Trump once, “and I will beat him again.”
Biden says there’s a “long way to go” with his campaign, and that he is “just going to keep moving” because he has “more work to do”. “We’ve got more work to finish,” he says.
Biden mistakenly calls Kamala Harris ‘Vice-President Trump’
Biden is now taking questions from reporters.
He is asked if he has concerns about vice-president Kamala Harris’ ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket.
Biden says he “wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be president.”
Biden says a strong Nato is “essential to American security”, and that he believes the obligation of Article Five is “sacred”.
The US president says he has made it clear that he will not “bow down” to Putin.
I will not walk away from Ukraine. I will keep Nato strong. That’s exactly what we did, and exactly what we’ll continue to do now.
Biden says America “cannot retreat from the world”.
Biden says he rallied a coalition of 50 nations from Europe to Asia to help Ukraine defend itself, and notes that his foreign policy experts had thought that Kyiv would fall in less than a week after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Biden says:
Today, Kyiv still stands, and Nato stands stronger than it has ever been.
The alliance is not only stronger, but it is bigger because of the memberships of Finland and Sweden, Biden says.
Biden notes that his predecessor, Donald Trump, “made it clear he has no commitment to Nato” and that he has “already told Putin ‘do whatever the hell you want’.”
Biden condemns Putin as ‘murderous madman on the march’
Biden says Nato was created out of the wreckage of the Second World War, and that the idea was to create “an alliance of free and democratic nations that would commit themselves to collective defense.”
The US president says that to those who thought that Nato’s time had passed, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a “rude awakening” and resulted in “some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe” roaring back to life.
“Once again, a murderous madman was on the march,” Biden said.
Biden begins press conference
Joe Biden has begun speaking at the news conference at the Walter EWashington Convention Center, where many of the Nato summit events this week have been held.
The US president begins by saying this year’s Nato summit was a “great success” and a “special moment”.
In the room for Joe Biden’s press conference this evening are the US secretary of state Antony Blinken, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as the White House’s Karine Jean-Pierre, John Kirby and Jake Sullivan, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
In the room for President Biden’s imminent press conference: two press aides, Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 11, 2024
National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also on hand.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 11, 2024
Joe Biden is expected to shortly begin speaking at a news conference at the end of the Nato summit in Washington, in what will be the US president’s most unscripted appearance since his debate with Donald Trump two weeks ago.
We will bring you his remarks as soon as the conference begins.
Pippa Crerar
Keir Starmer, asked about Joe Biden’s gaffe, insisted that the Nato summit had made breakthroughs that were welcomed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy and had left Nato in a stronger position.
Pressed by reporters on whether the US president was capable of serving another four years in office, he said:
Look, I was with him last night. We spent the best part of an hour together. We covered a lot of ground.
We’ve been through two days of this council and come to a very good outcome. He’s led through all, spoken at every session, pulled people together, and we got a good outcome and I think he should give credit for that.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, defended Joe Biden’s Putin/Zelenskiy gaffe, saying that “slips of the tongue” have happened to him too.
From FRANCE 24’s Kethevane Gorjestani:
In his presser, Macron defended Biden saying “slips of the tongue happen, it’s happened to me.” He also said France, Europe & Ukraine were lucky to have the Biden admin. #NATO #F24
— Kethevane Gorjestani (@ketgorjestani) July 11, 2024
Joe Biden’s Zelenskiy/Putin gaffe could not have been more ill-timed, the New York Times’s Michael M Grynbaum writes.
The clip was included in the 6.30pm evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC, the most-watched news programmes in the US.
Clip of the Putin gaffe made all three network newscasts, the most-watched news programs in the country.
Fifteen minutes later, and casual (non-cable) TV news consumers may not have seen it before the news conference.
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) July 11, 2024
Dan Sabbagh
On the face of it, it was a busy Nato summit, not short of outcomes: badly needed air defence systems and fighter jets for Ukraine and a commitment that Kyiv was on an “irreversible path” to membership – plus a cross-alliance warning to China for its discreet help to Russia as it continues its assault on Ukraine.
Yet, behind the activity lurks the cliff-edge of the US election. In the Washington heat, the worry is not so much about Joe Biden’s health, but the Democrats’ ability to defeat Donald Trump in the November election. The reality is that Nato will struggle if the US is sceptical, fitful or unengaged.
During the last Trump presidency, Nato survived by hunkering down, making minimal commitments during a period of less geopolitical uncertainty. This time, with a major war continuing on the edge of Europe, a dysfunctional Nato is not obviously an attractive option, but it nevertheless lingers.
The plan had been for Biden to promote Nato, to Americans and to the world, at a summit in the US capital to mark the 75th year of the alliance. Speaking in the Mellon auditorium, the very room Nato’s founding treaty was signed in 1949, Biden emphasised the alliance’s durability could not be taken for granted – a point aimed at Trump.
Yet at the same time, US media was dominated by concerns about Biden’s health and fitness for the presidency, and while his speech was delivered forcefully enough, a lengthy struggle to tie a sash bearing the presidential medal of freedom on to the outgoing Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, was a graphic reminder of the problem.
Read the full report here:
Joe Biden’s press conference was due to begin more than 15 minutes ago, at 6.30pm ET, but it has been delayed.
The conference was initially slated for 5.30pm. Biden will be speaking from the Walter E Washington Convention Center, a short distance from the White House, where many of the Nato summit events are being held.
We’ll bring it to you when we get word.
Dan Sabbagh
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy had been due to give a press conference at the end of the Nato summit, starting just now.
But journalists waiting have just been told the event has been cancelled – meaning Zelenskiy won’t have to respond to questions about Biden’s gaffe earlier.
Nato is “stronger than ever” and Britain will play “a full role” in the alliance, Keir Starmer said at the press conference.
The UK prime minister said Nato allies this week reaffirmed their “unshakeable” support for Ukraine’s victory, adding that any alternative is “unthinkable”. Starmer said:
You will have all seen the scenes this week in Kyiv, Russia using some of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal on innocent children, striking a hospital.
Starmer said he was “determined” to reset Britain’s relationship with Europe, have it return as a leader on climate change, and engage more deeply with the global south.
Whether the challenges we face are military, or global challenges like climate change, cyber and energy security, we will meet them head on, stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends and allies. Because history shows we are stronger when we do so.
Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, was asked if she has confidence in Joe Biden’s leadership.
Joly, speaking to CNN, said she believes Biden has been doing “great work”.
Here’s the clip, shared by CNN’s Jim Sciutto:
Q: Do you and does Canada have confidence in President Biden’s leadership of this country and of the @NATO alliance?
Canadian FM @melaniejoly: Of course we do and we believe President Biden has been doing great work….we’re getting out of this NATO summit stronger and more… pic.twitter.com/k5sqHqvGDT
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 11, 2024
