White House changes transcript of Biden’s controversial ‘garbage’ remark

[Ray Bogan]

President Biden’s press team changed the transcript of a comment he made to Latino voters, in which he called Trump supporters garbage. That’s according to members of the White House Stenographer’s office, who objected to the change because they document the remarks for posterity. 

First here’s exactly what President Biden said – 

Biden: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

That was said in response to this comment made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. 

Tony Hinchcliffe: “There’s literally a floating pile of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” 

When the transcript of the President’s remarks was released by the White House press office, it included an apostrophe s. White House aides said that was done to show President Biden was criticizing Hinchcliffe and not Trump supporters. 

According to an internal email, the change was made after the press office conferred with the president. A Stenographer’s office supervisor on that email called the change “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”

The supervisor wrote: “If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently.” “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.”

President Biden’s statement was quite controversial. It changed the topic of conversation from Hinchcliffe’s remarks to Biden’s and forced Vice President Harris to distance herself from the President. 

Vice President Harris: “Let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Former President Trump fundraised off Biden’s comments and held a campaign event in a garbage truck where he was put on defense about Hinchcliffe’s remark. 

Trump: “I love Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico loves me. I don’t know anything about a comedian.” 

Since Hinchcliffe’s comment, Latino celebrities from across the country have been expressing their support for Vice President Harris.