President Joe Biden is going viral over an errant quip he made about profiting from the sale of state secrets.
A clip of the days-old remarks, shared to Twitter on Monday, prompted widespread mockery and criticism of Biden, who is known for regularly making gaffes and losing his train of thought while speaking.
“I was just thanking the — anyway, I started off without you, and I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things that we shared,” Biden said on Friday during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Big Tech CEOs.
Laughter ensued, and Biden followed by saying, “Now, all kidding aside…,” before he went on to talk about how technology is transforming the lives of people around the world, the official White House transcript shows.
In a twist of sorts, it was technology that brought those comments back to haunt Biden. The “Research” Twitter account of the Republican National Committee posted a clip of the remarks on Monday.
The 14-second video did not include Biden indicating afterward that he was joking, and a screenshot of the official White House transcript shared by the GOP account similarly cut out the president’s explanation.
BIDEN (last week): "I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things…" pic.twitter.com/eyEaQEevRp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 26, 2023
Regardless, an uproar followed as the clip of Biden garnered more than a million “views” in less than two hours. Some joked about this being a Freudian slip of sorts — alluding to bribery allegations that the president has dismissed as a “bunch of malarkey” — and others made comparisons to the federal documents case against former President Donald Trump.
“Well, honest or in a fog of confusion? Where are you, Democrats? Speak up because we never hear from you on this topic….,” said former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
“Joe Biden’s brain is going and he’s literally admitting his crimes out loud. Impeach Biden! It’s unreal and so insulting to America,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“Donald Trump is being indicted for things that Joe Biden is admitting to doing out loud,” observed Greg Price, the communications director for the State Freedom Caucus Network.
A recent poll from NBC News found growing anxiety concerning Biden‘s fitness to serve, as more than two-thirds of registered voters — 68% — said they have moderate to major concerns about him “not having the necessary mental and physical health” to be president.