by Debra Heine
The White House press office altered the official transcript of Joe Biden insulting Trump supporters over the objections of the White House stenographer, according to two government officials, and an email obtained by the Associated Press. House Republicans have launched an investigation into the matter, saying the White House may have violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
Biden caused an uproar on Tuesday when he described Trump supporters as “garbage” during in a campaign Zoom call with Latino voters.
The official transcript, as prepared by a White House stenographer, quoted Biden 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.”
However, the transcript released to the public by the press office, led by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, added an apostrophe to the quote, changing “supporters” to “supporter’s,” to make it appear that Biden was only criticizing insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe’s off-color joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage,” not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president. Biden, it should be noted, has a disturbing history of smearing Trump’s supporters as extremists and potential terrorists.
The change was made after the press office “conferred with the president,” according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office that was obtained by the AP. The authenticity of the email was confirmed by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
The stenographer supervisor wrote in the email that the press office’s handling of the matter was “a breach of protocol and spoilation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”
“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” the supervisor wrote, adding, “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 edit of the transcript came as the White House scrambled to respond to a wave of queries from reporters about Biden’s comments. The president’s remarks clashed with Vice President Kamala Harris’ near-simultaneous speech outside the White House in which she called for treating Americans of differing ideologies with respect.
Later that evening, Biden’s social media accounts posted statements claiming that he he was not calling all Trump supporters garbage and that he was referring specifically to the “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally.”
The Trump campaign seized on the initial quote, and the next day, had the former president commandeer a MAGA-adorned garbage truck for an epic photo op in Green Bay, Wisconsin ahead of his rally there.
Harris on Wednesday distanced herself from Biden’s comments — making the clearest break from the president since she took over for him at the top of the Democratic ticket just over three months ago. “Let me be clear,” she told reporters, “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
The press office reportedly asked the stenographers to quickly produce a transcript of the call amid the public backlash.
The stenographers office is charged with preparing accurate transcripts of public and private remarks of the president for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the public.
The two-person stenography team on duty that evening — a “typer” and “proofer” — said any edit to the transcript would have to be approved by their supervisor, the head of stenographers’ office.
The supervisor was not immediately available to review the audio, but the press office went ahead and published the altered transcript on the White House website and distributed it to press and on social media in an effort to tamp down the story.
White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates that evening also posted on X the edited version of the quote and wrote that Biden was referring ”to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”
The stenographers office supervisor, a career employee of the White House, reportedly complained about the press office action, “but did not weigh in on the accuracy of the edit” in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other press officials.
“Regardless of urgency, it is essential to our transcripts’ authenticity and legitimacy that we adhere to consistent protocol for requesting edits, approval, and release,” the supervisor wrote.
Asked for comment, Bates did not address the alteration of the transcript and said: “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.” The supervisor declined to comment.
House Republicans are now launching an investigation into the matter.
On Wednesday, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) accused White House staff of “releasing a false transcript” of Biden’s remarks.
They demanded that the White House retain documents and internal communications related to Biden’s remarks and the release of the transcript in a letter to White House counsel Ed Siskel.
“White House staff cannot rewrite the words of the President of the United States to be more politically on message,” the lawmakers wrote to Siskel. The lawmakers also demanded that “the White House issue a corrected transcript with the accurate words.”
“The Biden-Harris White House just got caught in a clear effort to lie to the American people,” said Comer on X Thursday night. “This White House needs to immediately turn over the emails and communications Elise Stefanik and I demanded yesterday and make fed employees involved available.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) also issued a statement Thursday night, saying: “Joe Biden called EVERY Trump supporter ‘garbage.’ Then the White House doctored the transcript to help Kamala’s campaign—and the media went along with it every step of the way. DISGUSTING.”
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wy.) posted on X: “Two things are now confirmed: 1. Biden called EVERY Trump supporter GARBAGE. 2. The White House DOCTORED the transcript. This is a major scandal.”
– – –
Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
