(WASHINGTON) President Joe Biden opened his State of the Union Address with a hearty “Hi, Di!” greeting to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who passed away last fall and is buried near San Francisco.
“And to my long-time good friend Sen. Dianne Feinstein, glad to see you made it to yet another State of the Union Address. Where are ya, Di? Stand up and be recognized! So glad you got over your latest illness,” he said.
Continuing, Biden joked, “I’ll tell ya something, man. When it comes to this decline in mental capacity thing, I’ve got nothing on the good senator from California. She’s been to more of these things than just about anyone in here—well, except for me, of course.”
Later, following his speech, White House officials downplayed the massive gaffe.
“I would say that he knew very well that Sen. Feinstein passed away months ago,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “You know, the late Sen. Feinstein is always in his heart, so in that way, she truly was with him tonight. In spirit. And he was just reaching out to her spirit to let her know he was thinking about her.”
At press time, new demands for Biden’s personal physician to take a cognitive test were being heard in Republican circles.
