Joe Biden calls himself ‘the first Black woman to serve with a Black President’ in latest gaffe

The latest in a series of blunders

The embarrassing gaffe has led to political donors freezing donations until the President steps aside.

Whilst speaking to WURD radio in Philadelphia, the 81-year-old mixed up his words as he tried to demonstrate his pride in working with Kamala Harris and former president Barack Obama.

He said: “By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first Black woman… to serve with a Black president.”

Campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa defended him saying: “It was clear what President Biden meant when he was talking about his historic record including a record number of appointments to the federal bench. This is not news, and the media has passed the point of absurdity here.”

Earlier on in the interview he made another mistake when he said he had been the first president elected statewide in Delaware. What he meant was he was the first Catholic in Delaware to be elected statewide.

Biden’s mental fitness has been called into question recently by the opposition but political donors have also begun to doubt him after his poor performance in a recent television debate with Donald Trump.

The current President appeared confused and faltered, alarming some Democrats. Vice President Harris has been highlighted as an alternative presidential candidate for the party.

At a 4^th of July event for military families, however, Biden said he was ‘not going anywhere’.

Party donor, Abigail Disney - granddaughter of Roy Disney, heir to the Disney fortune – said she would suspend donations and called for Harris to replace Biden.

She said: “I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

She also said that she believed Democrats would ‘win this election by a lot’ if the party could rally around Harris.

Another donor, Gideon Stein said he would pause $3.5m (£2.74m) in planned donations to nonprofits and political organisations active in the presidential race unless Biden stepped down.

Meanwhile, Hollywood producer Damon Lindelof, called for donors to stop giving to the party until there is a change and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, also asked for him to step aside.

The White House has blamed jet lag and a cold for his shaky performance but public opinion polls show that Trump has widened his narrow lead over Biden since the last TV debate.