"Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin."
So said President Joe Biden in introducing, to applause, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a NATO event Thursday.
Biden, certainly aware of the intense scrutiny over his words following a fumbling, disastrous performance at the debate in Atlanta, caught the gaffe and as he walked away from the podium, stepped back to the microphone.
"President Putin? We're going to beat President Putin. President Zelensky," he said. "I'm so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it. Anyway."
Zelensky appeared to shrug off the gaffe, and joked as he shook Biden's hand: "I'm better."
"You're a hell of a lot better," said Biden.
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After the clip aired, CNN anchor Jake Tapper called out Biden, saying that at this "high-stakes" moment, "we have to acknowledge President Biden first of all introduced President Zelensky as, 'President Putin,' A, but then B, did catch himself and then quickly recover."
Added Tapper: "But still, not a wonderful time to make a gaffe like that."
