policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press officials have altered the official transcript of a call wherein President Joe Biden appeared to take a swipe at Donald Trump supporters, drawing objections from federal employees who document such remarks for posterity, in response to reports two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Biden caused an uproar earlier this week along with his comments to Latino activists who responded to racist comments at a Trump rally by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called the US island territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”
According to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, Biden told the Latino group in a video call Tuesday night: “The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and that.” is meaningless.” -American.”
However, within the transcript released by the White House press office, the quote was preceded by an apostrophe and browse “supporter” as a substitute of “supporter,” which aides say suggests Biden is criticizing Hinchcliffe fairly than the tens of millions of Americans who support Trump as president.
According to an internal email from the top of the stenographer's office obtained by The AP, the change was made after the press office “discussed with the president.” The authenticity of the e-mail was confirmed by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to debate internal matters.
In the e-mail, the supervisor called the press office's handling of the matter “a breach of protocol and a compromise to transcript integrity between the stenography and press offices.”
“If there are differences in interpretation, the press office may choose to withhold the transcript, but cannot edit it independently,” the supervisor wrote, adding: “Our Stenography Office transcript – published for our distribution, which includes the National Archives – is now available.” differs from the version edited by Press Office staff and made available to the general public.”
The editing of the transcript got here because the White House scrambled to reply to a wave of inquiries from reporters about Biden's comments. The president's comments contradicted Vice President Kamala Harris' near-simultaneous speech on the White House, wherein she called for Americans of various ideologies to be treated with respect.
The Trump campaign quickly moved to lift funds for the quote, and the following day, Trump himself did a photograph op in a garbage truck to capitalize on Biden's criticism.
Harris distanced herself from Biden's comments on Wednesday, marking the clearest break with the president since she replaced him at the highest of the Democratic nominee list just over three months ago. “To be clear,” she told reporters, “I object to any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
According to the e-mail, the press office had asked stenographers to quickly prepare a transcript of the decision amid the firestorm. Biden himself said on social media that he was not calling all Trump supporters trash, specifically referring to the “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico that Trump's supporters spread at his Madison Square Garden rally.”
The Stenographer's Office is tasked with preparing accurate transcripts of private and non-private statements by the President for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the general public.
The two-person stenography team on duty that evening – a “scribe” and a “proofreader” – said that any editing of the minutes needed to be approved by their superior, the top of the stenographer's office.
The supervisor was not immediately available to review the audio recording, however the press office posted the altered transcript on the White House website and distributed it to the press and on social media to contain the story.
White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates also posted the edited version of the quote on X that evening, writing that Biden “called the hateful rhetoric on the Madison Square Garden rally 'garbage.'
The supervisor, a profession White House staffer, expressed concerns in regards to the press office's motion in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre – but didn’t comment on the accuracy of the change. and communications officers.
“Regardless of the urgency, it is critical to the authenticity and legitimacy of our transcripts that we adhere to a consistent protocol for requesting edits, approvals and releases,” the supervisor wrote.
The supervisor declined to comment to the AP and referred questions on the matter to the White House press office.
Asked for comment, Bates didn’t address the change in protocol, saying, “The President confirmed in his tweet Tuesday night that he addressed the comedian's hateful rhetoric at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden.” That was reflected within the Protocol reflects.”
Meanwhile, House Republicans debated whether to launch an investigation into the matter. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on Wednesday accused White House aides of “a false transcription” of Biden's remarks to have published.
In a letter to White House counsel Ed Siskel on Wednesday, they called on the administration to preserve documents and internal communications related to Biden's comments and the discharge of the transcript.
“White House staff cannot rephrase the words of the President of the United States to convey a more political message,” the lawmakers wrote to Siskel.
Stefanik and Comer said the motion could constitute a violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
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