Joe Biden tells Kamala Harris to 'fire away' in awkward moment during briefing on LA wildfires
10 January 2025, 10:06
President Joe Biden told Kamala Harris to "fire away" in an awkward moment during a briefing on the LA wildfires.
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Mr Biden shocked attendees with the remark on Thursday, as wildfires continued to rage on across LA.
At least 10 people have died and thousands were forced to flee their homes due to the blaze.
Handing over to Kamala Harris in a briefing, Mr Biden said: "Madam vice president, I know you’re directly affected, so you fire away."
Ms Harris looked at him with a stunned expression, prompting him to add: "No pun intended."
Just moments later, Mr Biden made the same blunder again, telling US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore: "Chief, why don’t you fire away?"
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The president has been criticised over the "tone deaf" comments, with several people calling them "insensitive".
"Watch out Kevin Hart! Biden looks to jump into comedy when he is out of office..only thing is..there is nothing funny about this.." one person posted on X.
Another person said: "Is there something funny about this? Absolutely disgusting."
A third person added: "Completely tone deaf."
It comes just a day after Mr Biden was criticised for saying "the good news is I’m a great-grandfather as of today" while visiting a Santa Monica fire station.
He added that he would "remember this day for a lot of the wrong reasons".
