President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “minority leader” during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
Biden began his speech by thanking leading lawmakers in Congress, stating that he was looking forward to working with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and congratulating the new leader of the House Democrats, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), as well as Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whom he referred to as the “longest serving Senate Leader in history.”
Biden then mistakenly referred to Schumer as minority leader in the Senate.
“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer. Another, uh you know, another term as Senate Minority Leader. You know, I think you, this time you have a slightly bigger majority, Mr. Leader. You’re a majority leader,” he said as he stumbled through the moment.
According to prepared remarks from the White House, Biden was supposed to say, “And congratulations to Chuck Schumer for another term as Senate Majority Leader, this time with an even bigger majority.”
“Big stumble on Schume,” Donald Trump, who is live-reacting to the speech on Truth Social, wrote. “He called him Minority Leader. Can’t do that! Each time he’s going off script, he’s making a mistake. Hopefully he will improve!”