The White House edited the transcript of President Biden’s remark calling supporters of former president Donald Trump “garbage,” despite pushback from stenographers who said the change was a breach of protocol.
In the original transcript prepared by the stenographers of the Voto Latino campaign call, Biden was quoted as saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
As the remarks started circulating online and receiving pushback, the White House Press Office released a transcript of Biden’s comments that added an apostrophe, changing the quote’s meaning to read “supporter’s” rather than “supporters.”
The White House claimed Biden was offering a criticism of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who joked at Trump’s MSG rally that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.” Biden has insisted the comment was not directed at Trump’s millions of supporters.
An internal email from the White House Stenography Office obtained by the Associated Press and Fox News called the press office’s change “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”
The email said the press office changed the transcript after “conferring with the president.”
“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” the stenography supervisor wrote in the email.
“Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff,” the supervisor added.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News: “The President confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. That was reflected in the transcript.”
Biden said in his post on X that he “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it.”
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” he added.
Vice President Kamala Harris has distanced herself from Biden’s gaffe, which came just a week before Election Day.
“I think that first of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris said, adding that she believes the work she does is about representing all Americans, whether they support her or not.
Trump has seized on the comments, appearing on a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisc., earlier this week.
“Remember Hillary? She said ‘deplorable’ and then said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said ‘deplorable.’ That didn’t work out. ‘Garbage’ I think is worse,” Trump said to his supporters. “But he doesn’t know- you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him. For he not knoweth what he said.”
“And I’m convinced he likes me more than he likes Kamala,” Trump added.