President Biden appeared to imply on Friday that former Representative Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) might either be deceased or separated from her spouse — or that she is no longer a friend — in what seemed to be an unintended remark, shortly after assuring members of a Native American community that he was feeling fine.

“Thank you to Sen. Mark Kelly, a great friend — who also was married to an incredible woman who was my friend,” the 81-year-old president stated to the Gila River Indian Community, located just south of Phoenix.

Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona, has been married to Giffords — who is, indeed, alive — since 2007.

The former congresswoman suffered a critical gunshot wound to her head at a public gathering in Tucson in January 2011 and survived against the odds.

A year after the tragic incident, Giffords stepped down from her position in the House of Representatives to dedicate herself to her recovery.

Just before this verbal slip, Biden mispronounced the name of the Native American reservation he was visiting and reassured the audience with an unusual comment that he was alright.

“I’m Joe Biden and I’m Jill Biden’s husband,” the president opened his speech. “Gov, thank you for that introduction. And to the Gila Indian River Community — the Gila… the Gila … nothing wrong with me.”

He ultimately managed to get the name correct.

“The Gila River Indian Community, [thank you] for welcoming me today,” Biden said.

Under the intense Arizona sunlight, the president appeared to struggle somewhat with reading from the teleprompters.

Removing his signature aviator sunglasses at the beginning of his speech, he quickly opted to put them back on shortly thereafter.

“I’m putting these glasses on because I’m having trouble seeing this,” Biden acknowledged.

During his speech, Biden issued an apology on behalf of the federal government for the historic practice of sending Native American children to boarding schools aimed at erasing their culture.

“I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did,” the president said.

“It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years.”

{Matzav.com}