Biden uses tactless term to refer to his own defense secretary after forgetting his name - as Barack Obama tells president it's time to bow out of the race because Trump is charging to victory | 18 July 2024 | Joe Biden appeared to forget his own Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's name during an interview and instead called him "black man." The president was speaking while campaigning in Las Vegas - a trip that was cut short on Wednesday when the 81-year-old tested positive for COVID-19. In the interview with Black Entertainment Television, Biden said: "It's all about treating people with dignity. For example, look at the heat I'm getting because I named a, uh, the secretary of defense, a black man." ...In the BET interview, Biden made another gaffe as he failed to refer to Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson by her full name. "I named Ketanji Brown, I mean, because of the people I've named," the president said.