President Joe Biden suffered yet another brain freeze Friday, appearing to forget the name of Xavier Becerra, his Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The embarrassing moment came as Biden called on Becerra to join him during the signing of the White House’s new competition executive order. The president seemingly could only recall his HHS secretary’s first name, Xavier, and moved on quickly to pay him a compliment about a recent media appearance.
“Mr. Secretary, I’ve been watching you on television, you’ve been really good,” he said, to laughs from members of the audience.
Becerra on Thursday attempted to push back against sharp criticism from conservatives regarding the White House’s door-to-door coronavirus vaccination effort to encourage people to get inoculated. The HHS secretary contended that it is “absolutely” the federal government’s business to know who is vaccinated, saying “trillions of dollars” of tax-payer money has been spent to protect Americans.
Friday’s incident is not the first time Biden has forgotten the name of a Cabinet member. In March, Biden struggled to name his Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, during an event marking International Women’s Day.
“I want to thank you both, and I want to thank the sec… the former general, I keep calling him general but my… my, uh… the guy who runs that outfit over there,” Biden said as he concluded his speech.
Biden’s speaking errors have long caused concern from Republicans, chief among them, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who served as Physician to the President under Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Jackson and several other House Republicans have called on Biden to undergo a cognitive assessment following his June trip to Europe, citing his “mental decline and forgetfulness [that] have become more apparent over the past eighteen months.”
Biden has not publicly responded to the request.
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