White House changed transcript of Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment despite stenographer’s concerns

The White House Stenography Office has raised “serious concerns” about what it called a “break of protocol” in distributing an edited transcript of President Joe Biden’s controversial “garbage” comment that targeted former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala seized. Harris had to distance herself from that earlier this week.

Problems were pointed out in an email from the Stenography Office to White House press and communications officials, obtained and reviewed by ABC News and first reported by the AP.

Biden’s blunder angered Republicans over comments he made during Tuesday night’s Voto Latino campaign call — which appeared to call Trump supporters “trash” and came as Harris delivered her high-profile “closing message” for her campaign at the Ellipse at the White House.

‘Recently a speaker called at his meeting Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of waste.’ Well, let me tell you something. I don’t know – I – I don’t know a Puerto Rican that – that I know – or a Puerto Rico, where I’m from – in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only trash I see floating around there are his supporters – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. It’s completely at odds with everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

The stenography office transcript shows the president telling call participants, “The only trash I see floating out there are his supporters – his own – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

The published version of the White House has an apostrophe in “supporter’s,” which the White House has referred to as Biden, in reference to comedian created by Tony Hinchcliffe during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

MORE: Harris distances herself from Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment: ‘I strongly disagree’ with criticizing people based on their vote

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president “clarified what he said” in a tweet that same evening to ensure what he said was not “taken out of context,” and that he talked about the comedian had.

With just days to go until the election, Trump attacked Biden’s comment, even going so far as to arrive in the state of Wisconsin wearing an orange vest and driving a garbage truck with his name on the side.

Trump himself has used the same word to describe the “people surrounding Vice President Harris.”

In the email, Amy Sands, director of the White House Stenography Office, wrote: “Our Stenography Office transcript – released to our distribution, which includes the National Archives – is now different from the version provided by the staff of the Press Office has been edited and released to the public”.

“If there is a difference of interpretation, the press office may choose to withhold the transcript, but cannot independently edit it,” she added.

The Stenography Office is not disputing the apostrophe added by the White House press and communications team, but the way it was handled.

Sands explained that the press office had requested an “urgent” transcript of Biden’s Voto Latino event. Her office made the announcement at 8:56 p.m., and after White House officials “consulted” with the president, they requested changes at 9:10 p.m. and contacted Sands for approval, although she could not immediately review the requested changes.

“At 9:35 p.m., after attempting to contact me again, the news office created a 9:45 p.m. release timeline that I did not acknowledge, and then edited and published the campaign transcript at 10:09 p.m., with the Stenography Office’s standard editing and release protocols were circumvented,” the email said.

Sands said this “raises serious concerns” and a “break in protocol and taint of transcription integrity” between the offices.

“The White House transcript must be the autonomous product of the White House Stenography Office. The Press Office may request changes for consideration, but all requests must undergo final approval from the Stenography Office and be released through official Stenography distribution. Then the administrators can release I have made this clear in presentations to the press service.”

When asked about the email, senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told ABC News that “the president confirmed in his tweet Tuesday night that he addressed the comedian’s hateful rhetoric during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.”

“That was reflected in the transcript,” Bates added.

White House changed transcript of Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment despite stenographer’s concerns originally appeared on abcnews.go.com