Joe Biden makes 'disgraceful blunder' on stage: 'Where's Jackie?'

US President Joe Biden has publicly sought out Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Congresswoman who died in a car accident in August, during a conference on hunger, seeming to forget that she had passed away.

Biden thanked other conference organisers, then asked: "Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie?"

Walorski, a Republican, was one of four Congressional co-sponsors of the bill to fund the conference.

She was killed along with two staffers in early August.

Biden moved past the issue without any correction.

After Walorski's death, the White House issued a statement from Biden that said he and his wife Jill were "shocked and saddened" by her sudden accident.

"Truly an awful and disgraceful blunder," Representative Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican, tweeted in reference to the mistake this week.

Biden was "acknowledging her incredible work", White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the incident later, adding that Biden had already planned to welcome the congresswoman's family to the White House for a bill signing on Friday.

"She was on top of mind," Jean-Pierre said.

Opponents seize on strange Joe Biden moment

Earlier this month, Biden was was filmed appearing confused and "lost" on stage in a clip his political opponents have seized on to cast doubt over the leader's mental acuity.

After delivering a speech at the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York, the 79-year-old president wondered to the right of the stage before stopping and putting his hands out.

He then lurched forward before stopping again and appeared to interact with someone off stage, unsure about whether he should walk off or not.

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Video of the moment was shared online by the highly partisan Republican National Committee, racking up millions of views, many of them from critics mocking his behaviour.

"Joe Biden has no idea what’s going on. The guy can’t even get on and off the stage," political author Clay Travis wrote in Twitter.

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