On Tuesday evening, Biden started to describe supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage” before changing direction midsentence, leaving the White House to claim he was only referring to a comedian who spoke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend. A transcript pushed by the White House included an apostrophe in “supporters,” attempting to claim Biden was discussing the individual comedian, but the video of Biden did not seem to line up with the alleged transcript.

Tuesday’s attempted damage control by the White House follows several other instances of Biden making comments that had to be amended.

1. Biden claims US has commitment to help defend Taiwan

During a CNN town hall in October 2021, Biden was asked about China’s increasing hostility toward Taiwan and what the United States would do to help the Asian country from a possible attack from China. Biden seemed to indicate he would defend Taiwan, which would have been a significant shift from the longtime policy of strategic ambiguity about how the U.S. would respond regarding the defense of Taiwan.

When pressed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if the country “would come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked,” Biden responded “yes” and said that “we have a commitment to do that.”

Shortly after the town hall, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified there was no new policy.

“There has been no shift. The president was not announcing any change in our policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy. There is no change in our policy,” Psaki said.

Biden repeated the line in May 2022, forcing the White House to walk back his comments again.

2. ‘Minor incursion’ remark before war in Ukraine

Ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Biden claimed during a press conference in January 2022 that a “minor incursion” could cause a divide in the Western powers’ response versus a full-blown invasion.

“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we have to fight about what to do and not to do,” Biden said. “But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.”

The comments were widely seen as concerning, with Russia appearing on the verge of some kind of invasion into Ukraine, and the White House issued a statement clarifying Biden’s comment less than an hour after the press conference ended.

“President Biden has been clear with the Russian president: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies,” Psaki said in a statement at the time.

Russia invaded Ukraine the next month, and the war is unfolding as of October 2024.

3. Biden appears to claim he has cancer

During an event in Massachusetts in July 2022 touting climate funding, Biden appeared to claim errantly that he had cancer.

Biden remarked on air pollution before saying it was to blame for so many people in his generation getting cancer and referred to himself as having cancer in the present tense.

Did Joe Biden just announce he has cancer?

“That’s why I — and so damn many other people I grew up with — have cancer.” pic.twitter.com/lkm7AHJATX

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 20, 2022

“That’s why I and so damn many other people I grew up [with] have cancer,” Biden said. “For the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation, but that’s the past.”

The White House quickly clarified that Biden misspoke and did not have a new cancer diagnosis but did say he had “several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency.” The removed skin cancers, spent from time in the sun and not air pollution, had been widely reported prior to the gaffe.

4. Shutting down the coal plants

In November 2022, Biden made a comment about coal plants that didn’t land well with many from parts of the country where the industry is still vital.

“We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar also providing tax credits to help families buy energy-efficient appliances,” Biden said.

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), who represents a coal-heavy state, slammed the president’s remarks as “not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs.”

The White House claimed that Biden’s comments had been “twisted.”

“Anyone who knows President Biden knows he comes from coal country, from Scranton, Pennsylvania,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Other gaffes

The president’s mistakes haven’t always required the communications department to reverse what he had to say. Sometimes, they have tried to augment his statements to try and fit them into a more cohesive narrative.

In September 2022, Biden asked if the late Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski was present at an event. Walorski had died in a car crash a month earlier.

“I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Rep. McGovern, Sen. Braun, Sen. Booker, Rep. — Jackie, are you here?” Biden said. “Where’s Jackie? I thought she was going to be here — to help make this a reality.”

Jean-Pierre later said the late congresswoman “was top of mind for the president” when he made the errant remarks.

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In February 2024, during a press conference in which he argued he did not have cognitive or memory problems, Biden called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the “Mexican president.”

Earlier in the week, Biden had mislabeled French President Emmanuel Macron as deceased former French President Francois Mitterrand and claimed former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had talked with him during the G7 summit in 2021 despite Kohl leaving office in 1998 and dying in 2017.