Jill Biden appeared to mock her husband’s repeated mix-ups of calling Kamala Harris the president of the United States.
The first lady mistakenly introduced the vice president as the president during a White House event to mark Black History Month.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the Uni… the vice president," she began before the room broke out in laughter and applause.
The actual president turned in Ms Harris’ direction before lifting his arms and bowing his head in feigned defeat, going along with the joke.
"I just said to make you laugh," Ms Biden said to explain fumble.
Mr Biden comes under increased scrutiny every time he confuses Ms Harris’ job description, most recently during an appearance in January to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.
"Last week, President Harris and I stood on the United States Capitol," Mr Biden said during his speech at the Atlanta University Center Consortium.
In December, he promoted Ms Harris during a graduation speech at South Carolina State University.
“All kidding aside, of course President Harris is a proud Howard alum,” he said.
In March 2021, he celebrated Ms Harris’ Covid response, saying: "Now when President Harris and I took a virtual tour of a vaccination centre in Arizona not long ago, one of the nurses on that, on that tour injecting people, giving vaccinations, said that each shot was like administering a dose of hope.”
Mr Biden was inadvertently crowning the next in line of succession when saying he took the Covid-19 vaccine to instill public confidence, adding: "President-elect Harris took hers today for the same reason".
Mr Biden goes into his first State of the Union on Tuesday with the majority of Americans, 54 per cent, concerned he doesn’t have the “mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president”, according to a poll.
A new poll by ABC News/The Washington Post released on the eve of Mr Biden’s speech found a complete turnaround from 2020, when 51 per cent of Americans thought he had the mental acuity for holding office.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki dodged the public sentiment of Mr Biden’s presidency when questioned about his mental capacity going into the State of the Union.
“When President Bush gave his first State of the Union, it was shortly after 9/11. Leaders lead during crises. That’s exactly what President Biden is doing. He’ll speak to that, but he’s also going to speak about his optimism about what’s ahead and what we all have to look forward to,” she said.
