White House officials revised the official transcript of US President Joe Biden, in which he appeared to take a dig at former President Donald Trump’s supporters by calling them “trash”, leading tobidenThe office that documented his comments reprimanded him, the Associated Press reported.
Biden drew criticism during a call with Latino activists on Tuesday when he responded to a crude joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe comparing Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Expressed.
“The only people out there watching the garbage float are his supporters. It’s inappropriate and un-American to demonize Latinos,” Biden said, according to a transcript prepared by official White House stenographers. As video clips of Biden’s comments circulated widely on social media, the White House issued a statement saying the president was being misinterpreted and that Hinchcliffe’s racist remarks at the Trump rally And he didn’t call the former president’s rally “trashy.”
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The White House also provided a full transcript of the remarks, which made a small but significant edit, including adding an apostrophe to change “supporters” to “supporters.” The change suggests Biden was referring to a supporter, specifically the comedian who made the offensive comment, and not Trump supporters in general.
The change was made by the press office after “discussions with the President,” an internal email from the head of the stenographer’s office wrote. This amendment was made despite objections and concerns raised by the White House Stenography Office.
According to the email, the press office had asked stenographers to quickly transcribe Biden’s call with Latino workers, according to the Associated Press. The two-man stenography team on duty that day, consisting of a typer and a proofer, stated that any edits to the transcript must be approved by their supervisor, the head of the stenographer’s office.
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The Office of the Stenographer is responsible for preparing transcripts of the President’s public and private remarks for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the public.The observer was not available to review the call, but the press office went ahead and published a redacted transcript on the White House website and distributed it to the press and social media platforms.
In an email, Amy Sands, director of the stenography office, said the White House press office bypassed standard protocol by editing and releasing the transcript without her approval.Sands wrote that the press office requested changes to the transcript at 9.10 pm, but the press office released the edited version at 10.09 pm without their confirmation, calling it “a breach of protocol and damaging to the integrity of the transcript”.
Sands clarified that the press office can request changes, but all such requests must have final approval from the stenography office to ensure the integrity of the transcript. The original transcript, which included the phrase “his supporters”, was released to the National Archives and other distribution channels, but only the edited version was made public.
The controversy has drawn sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers, including Elise Stefanik and James Comer, who have accused the White House of potentially violating the Presidential Records Act of 1978. He argued that White House staff “cannot rewrite the words of the President of the United States on a more politically charged message”.
In an effort to defuse the controversy, Biden took to social media to clarify his comments and described comedian Hinchcliffe as a “Trump supporter.”
He tweeted Tuesday, “This morning I heard the hateful rhetoric made about Puerto Rico by a Trump supporter at the Madison Square Garden rally called trash — that’s the only word that can come to my mind to describe it. Latino. It’s unreasonable for them to demonize me. All I wanted to say is that the comments made at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates also issued a statement supporting Biden’s interpretation, suggesting that adding the apostrophe was necessary to ensure the accuracy of the transcript.
Asked to comment on the redaction of the transcript, Bates said, “The President confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric made by the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. This transcript is reflected in.”
Biden The controversy over Trump’s ‘garbage’ comment escalated when Trump wore an orange safety vest while riding in a garbage truck in Wisconsin on Wednesday to draw attention to the controversy. He also addressed a rally in the same safety jacket and some of his supporters also wore the same jacket.
