Joe Biden’s top 5 gaffes of 2024

President Joe Biden’s 2024 was as gaffe-filled as ever, ultimately leading to him dropping out of the presidential race. The Daily Caller rounded up those top moments as pundits and voters alike reflect on 2024.

1. Biden V. Robert Hur

The then 81-year-old committed one of his most memorable gaffes of the year behind closed doors in an interview with special counsel Robert Hur. Upon the release of a report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, Hur declined to charge Biden because a jury may see the president “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

To back this claim up, Hur noted that in their five-hour interview, Biden forgot the date of his late son’s death and when his vice presidency began and ended.

Biden compounded that mistake when, after the release of the report, he held an unexpected press conference to criticize Hur questioning his late son’s death. A transcript of the interview, previously obtained by the Daily Caller, shows that Biden lied and that he was the one to raise his son’s death.

Hur questioned the president on where work-related papers were being kept following the conclusion of his vice presidency in January of 2017.

“Well, um … I, I, I, I, I don’t know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?” Biden began.

“Yes, sir,” Hur responded.

“Remember, in this time frame, my son is — either been deployed or is dying, and, and so it was — and by the way, there were still a lot of people at the time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the president. I’m not — and not a mean thing to say. He just thought that she had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did,” Biden began. “And so I hadn’t, I hadn’t, at this point — even though I’m at Penn, I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I’d be running for president. And, and so what was happening, though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30 —”

“2015,” Rachel Cotton, a White House lawyer, interjected.

“2015,” an unidentified male confirmed.

“Was it 2015 he had died?” Biden asked.

“It was May of 2015,” an unidentified male reiterated.

“It was 2015,” Biden responded.

“Or — I’m not sure of the month, sir, but I think that was the year,” Robert Bauer, the president’s personal lawyer, weighed in.

This is a much-discussed portion of Robert Hur’s interview with Joe Biden in which Biden piles on the misstatements. Biden stumbles on the year Donald Trump was elected president. He suggests he, Biden, was leaving the Senate in 2017 when in fact he was leaving the vice… pic.twitter.com/bnf4YilQtf

— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 12, 2024

2. White House Corrects Biden 148 Times Over Four Months

A Daily Caller analysis revealed that between January and April 24, the White House communications staff had to correct the official transcripts of Biden’s remarks at least 148 times.

Anytime the president gives a speech or takes questions, the White House releases an official transcript. A Daily Caller review of the transcripts showed that communications staff frequently correct or modify them to include corrections to names, dates and titles of organizations.

Other changes affected verbs and modified the meaning of the president’s statement entirely. Words that the president didn’t say, but should’ve, have also been added to the transcripts.

A few examples:

“It was then, through no — through my American Rescue Plan — which every American [Republican] voted against, I might add — we made the largest investment in public safety ever,” the White House transcript of Biden’s March State of the Union address read.

“I was at a town meeting in Northern Virginia, and a very — a very together lady stood up with her two daughters and said, “My daughters have stage 2 [Type 1] diabetes. They need insulin. And I — I have insurance, but I can’t afford what it’s costing me — $700 a month for two of them,” the White House transcript of Biden’s Feb. 7 campaign remarks says.

“Since I’ve been to office, we’ve created 14 million new jobs — 440 [thousand] new jobs in North Carolina alone, just since I came to office. (Applause.) And that’s because of this guy right here. Nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs nationwide,” another transcript reads.

In at least one case, the White House put out a transcript that falsely portrayed what Biden said out loud.

At an April event, Biden seemingly read the word “pause” off of his teleprompter; however, the original White House transcript of the president’s remarks did not include the word “pause” — it wrote “(inaudible).” An updated version of the transcript was later updated to include the president’s “pause” as well as the “(inaudible).”

3. ‘We Beat Medicare’

Biden’s June debate performance was disastrous and eventually led to his departure from the 2024 presidential race. One particular moment stood out.

Trying to answer a question about the national debt and taxes, Biden froze up. CNN host Jake Tapper soon came to the president’s rescue, abruptly cutting Biden off and tossing a question to Trump.

“We would be able to wipe out his debt, we’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, childcare, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our healthcare system, making sure that we are able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I have been able to do with the COVID – excuse me, dealing with everything we have to do with,” the president continued before pausing and looking down.

“Look, we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said after pausing for several moments.

“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said after Biden trailed off at one point.

From there, Democrats across the party descended into a panic.

Guys, the Dems should nominate someone else – before it’s too late. #swapJoeout

— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) June 28, 2024

4. Biden Calls His Defense Secretary ‘The Black Man’

Shortly after the June presidential debate, Biden sat down for an interview with Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Appearing to forget the name of his Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, Biden referred to him as “the black man.”

“And so, it’s all about, it’s all about treating people with dignity. And it’s about making sure that — look, I mean, for example — look at [the heat I’m getting] because I named a, uh, the secretary of defense, the black man,” Biden said.

“I named Ketanji Brown, I mean, because of the people I’ve named,” Biden continued.

Biden Calls His Defense Secretary ‘The Black Man’ After He Appears To Forget His Name pic.twitter.com/6RFBxBtged

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 18, 2024

A Pentagon spokesperson responded to the gaffe, telling the New York Times twice that the Defense Secretary has “absolute confidence” in the president.

5. Biden Calls Trump Supporters ‘Garbage’

Though arguably not a gaffe if the president really meant it, this moment caused problems for both the White House and the vice president’s campaign.

While attending a get-out-the-vote call with Voto Latino in October, Biden started to discuss a joke made by comic Tony Hinchcliffe during a Trump rally, before adding that the only garbage “floating out there is his supporters.” Biden’s comments came at the same time Kamala Harris was hosting her closing arguments, overshadowing the vice president’s big night.

The White House quickly responded to the backlash by releasing a written transcript of the president’s comments, modifying “supporters” to “supporter’s,” claiming that Biden was addressing Hinchcliffe, not Trump voters.

It was later revealed by The Associated Press that White House stenographers put in their official transcript that Biden had said “supporters,” but the press office released the modified transcript after they “conferred with the president.”

AP *CONFIRMS* White House Cover-Up of Biden’s “Garbage” Comment About Trump Voters

The Associated Press on Thursday night issued a damning report about the White House’s potentially illegal cover-up of President Biden’s remark that Trump supporters are “garbage.”

“The only… pic.twitter.com/S1sXi8GA3P

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) November 1, 2024

Amid the controversy, Harris attempted to distance herself from Biden’s remarks first thing the next day.

“Listen, I think that first of all, he clarified his comments. Let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” the vice president said.