Biden mistakenly claims conversation with deceased German Chancellor during first G7 meeting

President Biden mistakenly claimed to have spoken with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who passed away in 2017, during fundraising events on Wednesday. This marks his second gaffe of the week.

On Wednesday afternoon, Biden attended three campaign reception events in New York, where he recounted past conversations, including those from his first Group of Seven (G7) meeting as president in June 2021, held in England. He recalled an exchange with Chancellor Kohl, who had been deceased for four years, asking him hypothetical questions about the storming of the British Parliament on January 6, 2021. Notably, it was actually former German Chancellor Angela Merkel who attended the meeting.

This gaffe follows another from Sunday when Biden claimed to have spoken with François Mitterrand, a French president who passed away in 1996, during the same G7 meeting.

In previous instances, Biden has made similar errors involving deceased individuals. During a 2022 gathering in Hallandale Beach, Florida, he claimed to have spoken with the inventor of insulin, despite the inventors having passed away before his birth in 1942. Additionally, at a September 2022 White House conference, Biden mistakenly looked for the late Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski, who had recently died in a car crash.

Furthermore, during his 2019 presidential campaign, Biden incorrectly stated that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who passed away in 2013, had expressed concerns about America under Trump. He later clarified this as a "Freudian slip" and intended to refer to British Prime Minister Theresa May.