Blunders Made by Global Heads of State When They Think They're in Private
Recently, Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto believed he was a private conversation with US President Donald Trump during Middle East peace talks in Egypt.
However, a hot-mic incident captured Prabowo asking Trump to organize a meeting with his son Eric, who serve as executives at the family business.
This was just one in a string of missteps made by world leaders when they assume they're off the record.
Below are several additional memorable blunders:
Transplant Procedures and Everlasting Life
At a military parade in Beijing in early autumn, China's leader Xi Jinping and Russia's head Vladimir Putin were recorded discussing organ replacement as a approach for prolonging life.
"Vital organs can be continuously replaced. The more you extend your life, the more youthful you get, and it's possible to even achieve immortality," Putin's interpreter was heard saying.
Xi, who was off camera, answered in Chinese: "Experts forecast that in this century people may reach 150 years old."
A conversation recorded from China's leader Xi Jinping and Moscow's head Vladimir Putin
'Sea Rising at Your Door'
Ex-Australia border protection chief Peter Dutton came under fire in 2015 when he made light about the situation of people in the Pacific experiencing rising sea levels.
Dutton was conversing with then-prime minister Tony Abbott, who had just returned from environmental talks with Pacific Island leaders in Port Moresby.
Noting that a meeting about refugees was running on "delayed schedule", Abbott responded: "There was a bit of that up in Port Moresby."
Dutton commented: "Schedules become irrelevant when you're about to have water lapping at your door."
These remarks sparked outrage from Pacific Islands and environmentalists, while the political opponents called for Dutton to issue an apology.
Peter Dutton recorded making jokes with Tony Abbott about coastal flooding
'Prejudiced Voter'
As Labour prime minister Gordon Brown was on the trail in 2010, he encountered a voter who questioned him on immigration and the economy.
Still wired up to a broadcast microphone when he got into his vehicle, Brown was recorded stating: "That was a disaster – they should never have put me with that woman. Who thought of that? Absurd."
When questioned about she had said, he answered: "All topics, she was just a prejudiced person."
The scandal dominated headlines for weeks and Brown ultimately lost the election.
'I Can't Stand Netanyahu. He Lies.'
Former US president Barack Obama was in discussion at the G20 summit in Cannes in 2011 with France's leader Nicolas Sarkozy when their comments about Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu were captured by a live microphone.
Sarkozy stated: "I can't stand Netanyahu. He's a liar."
Per a version from a French interpreter cited by Reuters, Obama replied: "You've had enough but I must work with him frequently than you."
'Major League ***hole'
A vintage hot-mic moment from then US presidential candidate George W. Bush occurred when he made a negative comment about a journalist from The New York Times.
The Republican presidential nominee was unaware that a recording device was active when he turned to Dick Cheney at a Labor Day rally and said, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."
Cheney answered: "Absolutely, he is, definitely."
Bush at a political gathering in 2000
