Joe Biden made a clandestine visit to Harvard University “marked by gaffes”, according to the student newspaper, which said he referred to Ukraine as Iraq and dropped an ice cream.
The former president held a private seminar with 50 politics students that was kept secret until his arrival. But when word got out, a group of pro-Palestinian students assembled to protest outside the building.
Biden, 82, has rarely been seen in public since his vice-president, Kamala Harris, lost last year’s election after he dropped out of the race, leaving her only 107 days to convince Americans to vote for her.
Biden’s former adviser Mike Donilon, a fellow at the university this semester, invited him to visit weeks before Harvard rejected President Trump’s demands for changes to hiring and courses, that led the White House to freeze $2.2 billion in grants this week.
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The Harvard Crimson reported on Biden’s visit: “His appearance was marked by gaffes of the sort that became political lightning rods during the 2024 presidential race, including mistakenly referring to Ukraine as Iraq while discussing Russia’s invasion before Donilon corrected him.
“When Biden bit into an ice cream bar after the talk, the partially melted dessert fell to the floor.”
With Kamala Harris during a briefing on the wildfires raging through Los Angeles in January
SAMUEL CORUM/ALAMY
During a television debate with Trump in June last year, Biden performed poorly, repeatedly losing his train of thought, which led to calls for him to step back as Democratic presidential candidate.
One unnamed student told the paper that the protesters’ chants accusing Biden of genocide were “faint and indistinguishable inside the classroom, but still audible”.
Other students who attended the event said Biden celebrated the way Harvard refused to give in to Trump’s demands, saying: “Harvard stepped up in a way no one else has. You should be really thankful.”
Biden is well-known for his fondness for ice cream and frequently stopped for a cone during campaigning or presidential visits. He remarked in 2023 that, “you know it’s pretty dull when you’ve been in public life as long as I have and you’re known for two things: chocolate chip ice cream and Ray-Ban sunglasses, but what the hell”.
