Top political gaffes of 2024

The presidential election generated numerous high-profile political gaffes this year, including President Biden's widely-panned debate performance and him calling Trump supporters "garbage" in the closing days of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. 

Here are six of the biggest political gaffes of 2024: 

A disastrous performance by President Biden during his debate with former President Trump on June 27 appeared to be the beginning of the end for Biden's 2024 re-election campaign. 

Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27 made headlines when a comedian mocked different ethnic groups, calling Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage." 

Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Harris, "If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?" Harris paused for a moment and then said, "There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of - and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact." 

Hostin had given Harris a clear opportunity to differentiate herself from Biden, but Harris instead effectively cut an ad for Trump's campaign by allowing it to tie her directly to an unpopular administration. 

The poorly timed mishap occurred when the Minnesota governor was asked about changing positions on banning assault weapons.

"I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I've become friends with school shooters. I've seen it," Walz said. 

Walz presumably meant he had become friendly with parents who lost children during horrific school shootings. 

Speaking in Concord, Trump said that Haley, his former ambassador to the United Nations, had been responsible for the collapse of Capitol Hill security during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Trump has previously blamed Pelosi for turning down National Guard support before the riot. 

"You know, by the way, they never report the crowd on January 6, you know, Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they - did you know they destroyed all the information and all of the evidence. Everything. Deleted and destroyed all of it, all of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard. So whatever they want, they turned it down. They don't want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people," Trump said. 

Harris found herself in the headlines repeatedly this year for making confusing verbal statements. 

The remarks drew criticism and ridicule from conservatives online. 

"And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination," Biden said, before starting to leave the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin." 

"He's going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy. I'm so focused on beating Putin," Biden then said, appearing to realize the verbal stumble. "We got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President." 

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Jacqui Heinrich, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, David Rutz, Brian Flood and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.