Blunders From World Heads of State When They Think They're in Private

Recently, Indonesian leader Prabowo Subianto believed he was a private conversation with American leader Donald Trump during Middle East peace talks in Egypt.

Instead, a hot-mic incident captured Prabowo requesting Trump to arrange a meeting with his son Eric, who serve as executives at the family business.

This was just one in a string of missteps committed by international figures when they assume no one can hear them.

Here are five other memorable errors:

Transplant Procedures and Everlasting Life

During a defense ceremony in Beijing this September, China's leader Xi Jinping and Russia's head Vladimir Putin were recorded talking about organ replacement as a approach for extending lifespan.

"Human organs can be continuously replaced. The longer you live, the younger you become, and you can even reach eternal life," Putin's interpreter was recorded stating.

Xi, who was not visible, answered in Chinese: "Some predict that in the current era humans may reach 150 years old."

A conversation recorded from Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin

'Sea Rising at Your Door'

Ex-Australia border protection chief Peter Dutton faced criticism in 2015 when he made light about the plight of residents in the Pacific experiencing ocean encroachment.

Dutton was speaking to then-prime minister Tony Abbott, who had just returned from climate change talks with Pacific Island leaders in Port Moresby.

Observing how a meeting about refugees was running on "Cape York time", Abbott responded: "We had a bit of that up in Port Moresby."

Dutton added: "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 opposition Labor party demanded Dutton to issue an apology.

Peter Dutton overheard joking with Tony Abbott about coastal flooding

'Bigoted Woman'

As Labour prime minister Gordon Brown was campaigning in 2010, he encountered a voter who challenged him on immigration and the economic situation.

Still wired up to a broadcast microphone when he got into his vehicle, Brown was recorded stating: "That went terribly – they should not have placed me with that woman. Who thought of that? Absurd."

When questioned about she had said, he answered: "Everything, she was just a bigoted woman."

This incident dominated headlines for an extended period and Brown went on to lose the political race.

'I Cannot Bear Netanyahu. He's a Liar.'

Former US president Barack Obama was in discussion at the international conference in Cannes in 2011 with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy when their remarks about Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were captured by a active recording device.

Sarkozy stated: "I cannot bear Netanyahu. He's a liar."

According to a version from a French interpreter quoted by Reuters, Obama responded: "You've had enough but I have to deal with him more often than you."

'Major League ***hole'

A classic recording incident from then US presidential candidate George W. Bush happened as he made a negative comment about a journalist from The New York Times.

The GOP candidate was unaware that a microphone was live when he leaned over to Dick Cheney at a political event and said, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."

Cheney responded: "Absolutely, that's true, big time."

Bush at a Labour rally in 2000
Mary Blake
Mary Blake

Zkušená novinářka se zaměřením na politické dění a mezinárodní vztahy, píšící pro různé české médi od roku 2015.