Trump sets the record straight on Biden’s ‘Late Night’ joke about him forgetting Melania’s name

Former President Donald Trump says President Biden’s joke about him forgetting his wife’s name is a bunch of malarkey.

Mr. Biden took the swipe at his likely election opponent Monday night on NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers” when joking that he and Mr. Trump are both old men.

“You got to take a look at the other guy, he’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” the president said on the show.

In a video message posted on social media, Mr. Trump contradicted Mr. Biden’s account.

“He went on a very poorly rated show last night, and he talked about Donald Trump and his wife — I don’t know the name of my wife. He was referring to the fact that at CPAC, we’re at a sold-out speech, the biggest audience they’ve had in years, I think maybe ever,” he said in the video.

“I made the statement that Melania was very popular because when I mentioned her name, the audience went wild. I then looked at the two people, man and wife, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, and I said, ’Wow, they really liked the first lady.’ So this got taken as the fact that I thought Mercedes was the first lady … has nothing to do with that,” he said.

Mr. Biden’s joke was based on news reports on Mr. Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference where he was talking about his wife but also mentioned Mrs. Schlapp, who served in the Trump White House. Some reports described it as a mix-up of the two women.

Mr. Trump said the news reporters were inaccurate.

“The radical left Democrats [are] constantly making up stories about me because their candidate is a mental and physical basket case,” he said. “These people are really dishonest. They are absolutely something,”

He said the left-leaning news media was attempting to help Mr. Biden, 81, beat back concerns about his advanced age and mental fitness.

“They have a horrible candidate who’s a horrible president,” Mr. Trump, 77, said in the video.

In response, Mr. Biden’s X account posted a video that showed Mr. Trump’s Truth Social video compared to clips from his speech at CPAC, with the caption: “Donald, man. Check the tape.”