Blunders Made by Global Heads of State Believing No One Is Listening

Recently, Indonesia's President 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 hold positions at the family business.

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

Here are five other memorable blunders:

Transplant Procedures and Immortality

During a defense ceremony in Beijing this September, China's leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were recorded talking about organ transplants as a method for extending lifespan.

"Vital organs can be continuously replaced. The more you extend your life, the more youthful you get, and it's possible to even reach eternal life," Putin's interpreter was recorded stating.

Xi, who was off camera, responded in Chinese: "Experts forecast that in the current era people may reach 150 years old."

Dialogue heard between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Moscow's head Vladimir Putin

'Water Lapping at Your Door'

Ex-Australia immigration minister Peter Dutton faced criticism in 2015 when he made light about the situation of residents in the Pacific facing rising sea levels.

Dutton was conversing with former PM Tony Abbott, who had recently come back from climate change talks with regional heads in Port Moresby.

Observing how a migration discussion was running on "Cape York time", Abbott replied: "There was a bit of that up in Port Moresby."

Dutton added: "Time doesn't mean anything when you're about to have water lapping at your door."

These remarks provoked anger from regional nations and environmentalists, while the opposition Labor party demanded Dutton to apologise.

Peter Dutton recorded making jokes with Tony Abbott about coastal flooding

'Prejudiced Voter'

While serving as UK PM Gordon Brown was campaigning in 2010, he faced a constituent who questioned him on migration and the economy.

Still wired up to a Sky news microphone when he got into his vehicle, Brown was heard saying: "That was a disaster – they should not have placed me with that woman. Whose idea was that? Ridiculous."

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

The scandal received extensive coverage for weeks and Brown ultimately lost the political race.

'I Can't Stand Netanyahu. He's a Liar.'

Former US president Barack Obama was in conversation at the international conference in Cannes in 2011 with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy when their remarks about Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu were picked up by a live microphone.

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

According to a account from a translator quoted by Reuters, Obama responded: "You're fed up with him but I must work with him more often than you."

'Total ***hole'

A classic recording incident from then US presidential candidate George W. Bush happened as he made a disparaging remark about a reporter 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, complete jerk from the New York Times."

Cheney answered: "Oh yeah, he is, definitely."

Bush at a political gathering in 2000
Deborah Porter
Deborah Porter

A tech enthusiast and certified Microsoft expert with over a decade of experience in software training and digital efficiency.