Marco Rubio mocks Biden after Democrat's question on Trump's Greenland-Iceland gaffe

WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, January 28, took a jab at former President Joe Biden’s history of verbal blunders while answering questions about President Donald Trump's speech at the Davos summit. 

Rubio brushed off Trump mixing up Greenland and Iceland by suggesting that the previous president made far more mistakes.

Marco Rubio brings up Joe Biden’s history of gaffes

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine pressed Rubio on Trump’s recent mix-up between Iceland and Greenland at the annual World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland. 

The official, while acknowledging that the president had a “verbal stumble” while referring to Greenland, quickly pivoted the conversation to criticize Biden’s frequent slips.

"I think we're all familiar with presidents that have verbal stumbles. We've had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one," he said taking a clear jab at the former president. 

He made the comment while testifying during a heated testimony focused on the Trump administration's operations in Venezuela.

Rubio’s  stance contradicts Karoline Leavitt

Rubio’s admission stands in direct contrast to the stance taken by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

Immediately following President Trump's speech, Leavitt had insisted that no error had occurred, claiming in a social media post that the President’s written remarks simply used descriptive language. 

"His written remarks referred to Greenland as a 'piece of ice' because that’s what it is," Leavitt wrote. 

However, when questioned by Senator Kaine, Rubio confirmed that the President indeed "meant to say Greenland."

Trump's confusion in Davos over Iceland-Greenland

The mix-up happened when President Trump was talking to world leaders about NATO and the stock market. 

In his speech, Trump said,  "I'm helping Europe. I'm helping NATO. And until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me."

He added, "So with all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears, I don't know that they'd be there for us. They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you," and claimed that "Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So, Iceland has already cost us a lot of money." 

While these comments led to intense trolling of Trump, Rubio dismissed the error as a minor slip.