While speaking to a crowd in Las Vegas over the weekend, Joe Biden told a story about speaking with French President Francois Mitterrand in 2021.
There's just one little problem with that. Mitterrand has been dead since 1996.
A few people in the media suggested that Biden was mixing up the names. Can you believe this is what's happening here?
Fox News reports:
Biden told a crowd of people that he recently met with Mitterrand, the former French president who died in 1996
President Biden told a crowd in Las Vegas on Sunday that he recently met with François Mitterrand, the French president who died nearly 30 years ago.
The comments came as Biden warned of the dangers of a potential second Trump presidency, aiming to boost enthusiasm ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary in Nevada.
Biden recounted a story he had told many times during his presidency, about a meeting he had with French President Emmanuel Macron during the G7 meeting in England, a few months after Biden assumed power in the White House.
“I sat down and said, ‘America is back,’” Biden recalled. “And Mitterrand from Germany – I mean from France – looked at me and said…”
Biden seemed to turn away before gathering his thoughts to finish the sentence: “Okay, how long will you be back?”
The president continued, saying that the “German Chancellor” asked him how he – and by extension the United States – would react if thousands of people, hypothetically, stormed the British House of Commons and killed two “Bobbyists” or British police officers, to deter them. Stop electing the Prime Minister.
François Mitterrand was President of France between 1981 and 1995. He died in 1996.
Here is the video:
Joe Spirals: “Right after I was elected… I went to the G7 meeting […] Mitterrand, from Germany, I mean, from France, looked at me and said, uh…ha, he said…you know…what? Why? How long will you be back?”
François Mitterrand died in 1996.pic.twitter.com/0KBknQCHNh
– The First (@TheFirstonTV) February 5, 2024
Biden sees the dead again. This is not ok.