Blunders From World Leaders Believing No One Is Listening

This week, Indonesian leader Prabowo Subianto thought he was having a confidential discussion with US President Donald Trump during Middle East peace talks in Egypt.

Instead, a live microphone situation captured Prabowo requesting Trump to organize a call with his son Eric, both of whom hold positions at the family business.

It represented only one in a series of missteps committed by world leaders thinking no one can hear them.

Here are five other memorable blunders:

Organ Transplants and Immortality

At a military parade 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 repeatedly transplanted. The more you extend your life, the younger you become, and it's possible to even achieve immortality," Putin's interpreter was heard saying.

Xi, who was off camera, responded in Chinese: "Some predict that in this century people may live to 150 years old."

Dialogue heard between China's leader 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 joked 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.

Observing how a meeting about refugees was running on "delayed schedule", Abbott responded: "We had a similar situation up in Port Moresby."

Dutton commented: "Schedules become irrelevant when you're about to have the ocean reaching your home."

The comments sparked outrage from regional nations and environmentalists, while the political opponents called for Dutton to apologise.

Peter Dutton overheard joking with Tony Abbott about rising sea levels

'Bigoted Woman'

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

Still wired up to a broadcast microphone when he got into his vehicle, Brown was heard saying: "That was a disaster – they should never have put me with that individual. Whose idea was that? Absurd."

Asked what she had said, he replied: "All topics, she was just a bigoted woman."

The scandal dominated headlines for an extended period and Brown ultimately lost the election.

'I Can't Stand Netanyahu. He Lies.'

Ex-American leader 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 live microphone.

Sarkozy said: "I can't stand Netanyahu. He deceives."

According to a version from a French interpreter cited by Reuters, Obama replied: "You've had enough but I must work with him more often than you."

'Major League ***hole'

A classic hot-mic moment from former White House hopeful George W. Bush happened as he made a negative comment about a reporter from The New York Times.

The Republican presidential nominee was didn't realize that a recording device was active when he turned to Dick Cheney at a Labor Day rally and said, "That's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."

Cheney responded: "Oh yeah, that's true, definitely."

Bush at a Labour rally in 2000
John Johnson
John Johnson

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