Official Transcript From Biden’s ‘Garbage’ Comment Altered By White House, Report Says

The White House sparked a significant controversy for altering the transcript of Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment describing Trump supporters.

According to POLITICO, White House aides broke with protocol and amended the official transcript of his remarks without consulting the stenography office.

Although the edit was one apostrophe, the change has major implications.

#BREAKING: AP has CONFIRMED the White House ILLEGALLY ALTERED the transcript of Joe Biden calling Trump supports “garbage”

This is a BLATANT violation of the Presidential Records Act, and WH press officials MUST BE PROSECUTED.

DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS! pic.twitter.com/0EisKXVvUc

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 1, 2024

POLITICO reports:

The president, according to the transcript prepared by White House stenographers, told the people on the call: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

Biden’s statement and the firestorm since has threatened to distract from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign ahead of Election Day. The call on which Biden made the remarks was held shortly before Harris’ campaign speech just hundreds of yards away on the Ellipse making her closing argument for voters to reject Trump.

The edit to the official White House transcript underscores the lengths Biden administration officials went to limit the political damage of Biden’s comments. The fallout of the president’s remark continues to reverberate, adding even greater anxiety to Biden’s final public appearances before the election, expected Friday and Saturday. In addition, Republicans on Capitol Hill are already asking questions about the transcript change, raising the possibility of an investigation.

Biden didn’t call Trump supporters “garbage,” the media said. But he did. And now two officials and an internal email reveal that the White House press office altered the transcript after it “conferred with the president” in direct violation of the Presidential Records Act. https://t.co/GF09JZ7FVf pic.twitter.com/Y76ZciKBbF

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) November 1, 2024

From the Associated Press:

The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” which aides said pointed to Biden criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president.

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 supervisor, in the email, called the press office’s handling of the matter “a breach of protocol and spoliation 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.”

A former White House stenographer told the New York Post he could not recall a single instance where the presidential press office altered a transcript.

“I don’t recall this happening ever in my six years as Biden’s vice presidential stenographer,” Mike McCormick said, according to the outlet.

“Nor did it happen in the one year I served President Trump or the five years I served President [George W.] Bush. What goes in the transcript is what the White House stenographer hears and transcribes,” he added.

Ex-White House stenographer on Biden ‘garbage’ transcript edit: ‘Don’t recall this happening ever’ https://t.co/KYL756M81X pic.twitter.com/iFpVNQsKqg

— New York Post (@nypost) November 1, 2024

Per the New York Post:

Late Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the stenographers’ office had complained of “spoliation of transcript integrity” and a “breach of protocol” by the press office after Biden, 81, said on a campaign call with the Voto Latino group that “the only garbage I see floating out there is his [Trump’s] supporters.”

The official transcript, however, included an apostrophe on the word “supporter’s,” suggesting that Biden was only attacking comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who had called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday.

Traditionally, transcripts of presidential remarks are forwarded to reporters by the press office without correction, with strikethroughs to mark when the commander in chief misspeaks or otherwise noting when his words are unintelligible.

The leak of the complaint set off palace intrigue within the West Wing as well as speculation about the identity and motive of the leaker, whom insiders suspect is a political aide rather than a member of the stenographer team, which is known for its professionalism and discretion.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre side-stepped the matter when asked aboard Air Force One en route to Philadelphia Friday.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

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