Hot Mic Catches Biden’s Strange Comment to French President at D-Day Event

A hot mic caught President Joe Biden informing French President Emmanuel Macron that he would need to be the first to leave an 80th anniversary D-Day commemoration in Normandy, France, on Thursday.

The event took place at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach, where American forces suffered the most casualties during the D-Day invasion.

The cemetery holds the graves of 9,388 Americans who were killed on D-Day and in the ensuing battle for Normandy. Additionally, 1,557 names are listed on the Walls of the Missing at the site.

As Biden walked into the ceremony with Macron, he was heard saying, “My advance team said I gotta leave, be the first one to leave, because I hold people up.”

Macron did not respond and continued heading toward the event.

Later during the ceremony, Biden seemed to want to sit down while standing alongside first lady Jill Biden, Macron, and the French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron.

True to his word, when the commemoration ended, Biden left the stage promptly, while Macron stayed behind to continue greeting American veterans, embracing some of them.

Biden and the first lady did shake hands with some World War II veterans as they exited the stage.

USA Today reported that an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people attended Thursday’s ceremony.

The Normandy invasion was the largest amphibious operation in the history of warfare.

The battle took place on a 50-mile stretch of coast nearly five years after German dictator Adolf Hitler plunged the world into war by invading and occupying much of Europe.

The Allies assembled more than 156,000 troops, nearly 7,000 ships, and over 11,000 aircraft for the operation, according to the Department of Defense.

The D-Day plan involved crossing the English Channel and landing on five Normandy beach sites, as well as dropping paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions behind enemy lines.

In his Order of the Day for the operation, Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower said, “Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

He concluded by saying, “Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”