Joe Biden has said he is proud to be the first “black woman to serve with a black president” in one of a series of verbal gaffes as the US celebrated Independence Day.
A week after the disastrous debate with Donald Trump that has left Biden fighting for his political life, the president twisted his words during an interview with Philadelphia’s WURD radio station, mixing up himself with Kamala Harris, his vice president.
Vice President Kamala Harris embraces President Joe Biden at a campaign rally earlier this year.Credit: AP
“By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first black woman … to serve with a black president,” he said, mangling his own time serving as vice president for Barack Obama.
Obama and Harris made history when they were elected in 2008 and 2020, respectively – Obama as the first black president and Harris as both the first black vice president and the first woman to hold the job.
Earlier in the interview, Biden correctly spoke of having appointed Harris, and the first black woman to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Biden also appeared uncertain when he spoke on The Earl Ingram Show, which is aimed at black listeners in Wisconsin but is also broadcast nationwide.
When asked why voting mattered, Biden delivered an answer that appeared to refer to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to grant Trump considerable immunity to prosecution.
He said: “You need someone, someone who is going to make sure that – the Supreme Court just issued a decision, by the way, that threatens the American principle that we have no kings in America. There’s no one above the law.”