White House ‘altered transcript’ of Biden’s garbage remarks despite fears it was ‘breach of protocol’
The White House has changed the official transcript of a phone call President Biden made to Latino supporters in which he appeared to call Trump supporters “trash,” according to Associated Press reports.
The comments were made in response to a joke Tony Hinchcliffe made at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, in which he stated that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of trash.”
According to the official transcript prepared by White House stenographers, Biden said during Tuesday’s call, “The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”
However, in the transcript released by the White House press office, the word supporters was changed. It said ‘supporter’s’ instead of the plural ‘supporters’.
The change, according to aides, corrects Biden’s statement and implies that he was only criticizing Hinchcliffe, and not the millions of Americans who voted for Trump. The Associated Press reported.
The White House has reportedly changed the official transcript of a phone call President Biden made with Latino supporters, in which he appeared to call Trump supporters “trash.”
The comments were made in response to a joke Tony Hinchcliffe made at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, in which he said Puerto Rico is a “floating island of trash.”
The change to the transcript was made after the press office “consulted with the president,” according to an internal email from the head of the stenographer’s office.
Two anonymous government officials confirmed that the email is genuine.
The supervisor of the stenographer’s office wrote in the email that the press office had violated proper protocol and botched “transcription integrity.”
“If there is a difference of interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript, but cannot edit it independently,” the regulator wrote. “Our transcription from the Stenography Office – released to our distribution, which includes the National Archives – is now different from the version edited by Press Office staff and released to the public.”
According to the email, the press office had asked the stenographers to quickly make a transcription amid the controversy.
For example, Trump seized on Biden’s comment and declared it was “worse” than Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment eight years ago.
Democrats immediately began distancing themselves from the president, including Kamala Harris, who said Wednesday, “Let me be clear … I strongly disagree with criticizing people based on who they vote for.”
Trump claimed that what Biden said was worse than what Hillary Clinton said about his supporters eight years ago, calling them “deplorables”
There was a team of two on hand with the stenography team the night of the frenzied battle to control the damage. There was a “typer” and a “proofer,” and they said any changes to the transcript had to be approved by their supervisor.
According to the AP, the supervisor was not available at the time to review the audio and verify the transcript, so the press office published the amended transcript on the White House website anyway in an effort to help the president.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates posted the amended transcript to