Buttigieg defends 80-year-old Biden for confusing Iraq and Ukraine TWICE in 24 hours

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended President Joe Biden for twice confusing Iraq with Ukraine during a 24-hour span earlier this week. 

Buttigieg was appearing on the newly rebranded CNN Primetime with Kaitlan Collins Wednesday night, when he was asked about the back-to-back gaffes. 

Collins asked the 41-year-old former mayor what he’s tell Americans who are concerned about the 80-year-old president’s ‘slip-ups.’ 

‘Well, what I’d say is I wish you could be in the room with him, the way I often am, seeing how he is simultaneously focused, on a big-picture vision, and very focused on details,’ Buttigieg responded. 

Buttigieg then argued that Biden’s administration has been ‘extraordinarily effective.’

‘And, one of the – frankly, one of the cases that I made, back when I was running for president at an unusually young age, is that the only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,’ Buttigieg added. 

Buttigieg announced his 2020 presidential bid at age 37. 

He dropped out of the race and backed Biden after the now-president convincingly won the South Carolina primary and ahead of Super Tuesday, allowing the former president to amass moderate Democratic support and eventually beat progressive candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic primary. 

Biden announced his 2024 reelection bid in late April. 

This week he’s been on a fundraising blitz, including to Chevy Chase, Maryland, Chicago and New York City. 

At one of the fundraisers in Chevy Chase on Tuesday night, Biden subbed in Iraq when he meant Ukraine. 

‘Think about this: If anybody told you – and my staff wasn’t so sure, either – that we’d be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it’s not likely,’ Biden said. ‘The one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO.’

The next morning, talking to reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for Chicago, he made the blunder again. 

President Joe Biden mixed up Iraq and Ukraine for a second time Wednesday morning when he was talking to reporters on the South Lawn before traveling to Chicaco 

President Joe Biden walked to Marine One carrying a cheat sheet that included talking points about the ‘Vagner-Russia’ conflict 

The official White House transcript from one of Biden’s fundraisers Tuesday night in Chevy Chase, Maryland, shows that he said Iraq, instead of Ukraine 

The president said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ‘absolutely’ been weakened the weekend’s Wagner uprising, but added, ‘it’s hard to tell really,’ when asked to what extent. 

‘He’s clearly losing the war in Iraq. He’s losing the war at home and has become a bit of a pariah around the world,’ Biden said, meaning to say Ukraine. 

Biden was even holding a cheat sheet when he made the gaffe the second time. 

Photographers on the South Lawn captured a notecard the president walked out with. 

The card read ‘Daily News Summary’ with the date. 

It started with ‘Vagner-Russia’ with talking points listed below. 

‘This was an internal Russian matter,’ the talking points read. ‘Too soon to know.’