‘Mexico? Mexico?!’ Jeffrey Toobin Says Biden’s Latest Blunder Is ‘The Only Thing Anyone’s Gonna Remember’ from Press Conference
Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin struggled to suppress his shock on CNN, Thursday after President Joe Biden called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi “the president of Mexico” in a press conference meant to alleviate concerns over his mental competence.
After Biden referred to El-Sisi as “the president of Mexico” during a speech on the Department of Justice investigation into his handling of government documents, Toobin reacted:
Mexico? Mexico?! Where did that come from? I mean, that’s the only thing anyone’s gonna remember from this. You know, he was exonerated here, and I think it’s an easy call that he was exonerated, and I think legally he’s never had a problem with this because the issue of criminal intent was quite clearly absent in the Biden case and, certainly according to the accusations in the Jack Smith indictment, is very much present in the Trump case. I think they are very different and the report even spelled this out. But Mexico? I mean, politically, how do you explain that?
Kate Bedingfield, who served as Biden’s White House communications director until last year, meanwhile, attempted to minimize Biden’s mistake.
“On this point about Mexico, I mean he misspoke on the name of the country in the context of a larger answer about what he’s doing to try to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” said Bedingfield in response to Toobin, adding:
So is it a perfect answer? Is it great to misspeak? No, it’s never great to misspeak. I promise everybody on this panel right now has misspoken and said the wrong name or the wrong date in a conversation, but you know, he’s explaining in great detail the work that he’s doing to try to ease that crisis, and so I don’t think that we should lose sight of the fact that he’s explaining the work that he’s doing as president and get so hung up on one word.
She concluded, “Is it perfect? I’m sure– does he wish he’d said Egypt rather than Mexico? I’m sure he does, but again, I think misstating one word, I don’t think we should over-crank on that.”
Watch above via CNN.
