Barack Obama ‘behind’ plot to dump Joe Biden from 2024 presidential race against Trump

Joe Biden has suffered a major name gaffe as Barack Obama orchestrates plans to secretly remove him from the presidential race.

US President Joe Biden has introduced Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky as “President Putin” in a horror gaffe at the end of the NATO summit.

“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Mr Biden said, before returning to the podium to correct himself, saying he was “so focused on beating” the Russian President.

The critical error came at an event marking NATO’s support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

With a smile, Mr Zelensky shook the 81-year-old’s hand and replied: “I’m better.”

President Joe Biden called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the wrong name. Picture: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is at the NATO summit and held discussions with Mr Biden, said anyone could have made the same mistake.

“It happens to everyone to have a slip of the tongue, it happens to me,” he told reporters.

It comes as the plot to dump Mr Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate is being secretly “orchestrated by Barack Obama”.

Despite publicly declaring his support, the former president was accused of pulling the strings of the campaign to pressure Mr Biden to drop out of the race after the disastrous debate performance.

The sensational claim comes as Mr Biden held a “big boy” press conference in a last-ditch effort to show he’s up to the task of beating Donald Trump in November.

Washington DC insiders went into a frenzy after it emerged George Clooney consulted with Mr Obama before publishing his calls for Mr Biden to step down. The Hollywood icon reached out to Mr Obama, who Politico reported did not object to Clooney publishing his brutal evisceration of the president.

Mr Biden’s family friends and closest media allies, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, said the Biden campaign believes that Mr Obama is the mastermind of cascading calls to replace the Democratic presidential candidate.

Former president Barack Obama is ‘behind the campaign’ to pressure Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. Picture: AFP

“Many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this,” Mr Scarborough said. “And if Joe Biden believes that, that’s not going to get him out of the race any faster.”

In the immediate aftermath of the debate, Mr Obama fully backed Mr Biden in a statement that has been seen as disingenuous cover for the whisper campaign to replace him.

Mr Obama was recently pictured with Mr Clooney at a ritzy fundraiser for Biden’s campaign just weeks before the A-lister called on the president to drop out of the race.

“This wasn’t George Clooney,” Ms Brzezinski said. “I think that Barack Obama has a lot of influence.”

(L-R) George Clooney, President Joe Biden, Julia Roberts and former president Barack Obama at a Democrat party fundraiser in Los Angeles. Picture: Instagram @juliaroberts

The increased leaks and infighting comes as the Biden campaign “quietly” tests Kamala Harris in internal polls against Mr Trump. The poll is one of the first indications that Mr Biden may be faltering in his unwavering decision to continue in the 2024 election race.

Only 11 Democrats have publicly called on Mr Biden to step down. But the party’s elites like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi have so far urged Mr Biden to make “the right” decision on his future but have stopped short of publicly calling for his resignation.

A handful of longtime aides and advisers to President Biden have been trying to come up with ways to persuade him that he should step asside, according to The New York Times. Three people briefed on the matter told the Times the group would have to convince Mr Biden he could not win against Mr Trump, but that another candidate like Ms Harris could.

White House spookesman Andrew Bates denied the account as “unequivocally” false, adding

“President Biden’s team is strongly behind him”.

White House officials privately hope Mr Biden makes a public gaffe at the NATO summit in Washington so he can be forced out.

“This is a terrible thing to say,” an anonymous White House official told The Atlantic. “But that might be the only thing that could force him out at this point, while there’s still time to rewrite the ending.”

Originally published as Barack Obama ‘behind’ plot to dump Joe Biden from 2024 presidential race against Trump