Joe Biden confused Egypt and Mexico during a press conference he called to defend his memory on Wednesday.

Mr Biden used the address to voice his anger towards the decision of Robert Hur, the Department of Justice’s special counsel, to highlight the president’s “significantly limited” memory in a report that cleared Mr Biden of any crimes relating to the mishandling of classified documents.

Mr Biden called a press conference at the White House to refute the claims and, amid angry exchanges with reporters, Mr Biden showed particular irritation at a suggestion in Mr Hur’s report that he did not remember what year his late son, Beau Biden, had died from brain cancer. “How the hell dare he raise that?” he said.

But, when the conversation moved to the crisis in the Middle East, Mr Biden appeared to confuse Mexico, which borders the United States, with Egypt, which borders Israel.

He said: “The president of Mexico did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced [him] to open the gate.”

Mr Hur’s report concluded that Mr Biden will not face charges for “willfully” holding on to classified documents after he left office as vice president.