White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mistakenly referred to President Joe Biden as “President [Barack] Obama” at Wednesday’s press briefing.
The press secretary made the gaffe while covering the Wednesday announcement that Biden appointed Ajay Banga, a former MasterCard executive, to lead the World Bank.
“President Obama announced that — pardon me, President Biden — woah, that is news. I know, I know, we’re going back, not forwards. We gotta go forwards,” she said to a laughing audience.
The press secretary echoed Biden’s previous announcement that Banga is “uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank” by spending over 30 years managing companies on a global scale and touted his reported climate change credentials.
“President Biden announced that the United States is nominating Ajay Banga to be president of the World Bank. As the president said himself, Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history. He is a renowned business executive that has spent more than three decades building and managing successful global companies that have created jobs and brought investment to developing economies,” she said. (RELATED: Biden Announces Pick For New World Bank President)
Banga has been the vice chairman at the New York-based investment firm General Atlantic since 2021. He previously served as an adviser to the U.S. trade representative under former President Barack Obama and also advised Vice President Kamala Harris’ work in Guatemala, Salvador and Honduras.
If approved, Banga will replace the current president appointed by former President Donald Trump, David Malpass, who intends to step down from his position after serving four years of his five-year term. Malpass is married to Adele Malpass, president of the Daily Caller News Foundation.