SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden on Thursday mistakenly referred to Alexei Navalny’s widow as Yolanda instead of Yulia in his latest blunder.
Mr. Biden privately met with Yulia Navalny and her daughter, Dasha, in a suite at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco following his death last week in Russia.
After the meeting, he addressed reporters in the hotel parking garage when the slipup happened.
“This morning I had the honor of meeting Alexei Navalny’s wife and daughter,” he said. “The one thing that was made clear to me is that Yolanda’s gonna, she’s gonna continue to fight.”
A White House transcript of the remarks released Friday confirmed the president said Yolanda, with the name crossed out and replaced with Yulia.
It’s the latest in a string of misstatements by Mr. Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president.
His age and questions about his cognitive ability are on the rise after special counsel Robert Hur depicted the president as having a memory so bad, he couldn’t remember when his son died or when he was vice president.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released this week revealed that 86% of Americans say Mr. Biden is too old for another term.