Amid significant backlash, President Joe Biden has suspended his remaining campaign calls following controversial comments about Trump supporters.
The Daily Wire reported that Biden's recent labeling of Trump supporters as "garbage" has sparked controversy and led to the cancellation of his scheduled campaign events.
During a campaign call targeting Latino voters, President Biden made remarks that have since caused uproar among the public and political figures alike. He referred to Trump supporters as "garbage," igniting immediate criticism across various media platforms.
This comment was made while discussing derogatory statements about Puerto Rico from a Trump rally. Biden’s words were recorded during a Tuesday night call with a Latino outreach group, emphasizing his displeasure with the opposition’s rhetoric.
Following the fallout, the White House took the decision to cancel all Biden's upcoming campaign calls. These calls were listed on his public calendar and were meant to continue his outreach ahead of the upcoming elections.
The organizations that were slated for calls with Biden have remained silent on whether these engagements took place after their removal from the public calendar. As a result, Biden has no further scheduled official events with the Harris campaign before Election Day.
The alteration of the official transcript by White House staff has added fuel to the fire. Initially, the transcript inaccurately reflected Biden's exact words, altering "supporters" to "supporter's" after a consultation with the president, as noted by White House stenographers.
White House officials justified the change as necessary, though this has been met with objections from career federal employees who see it as a breach of standard protocol and an undermining of transcript integrity.
The Associated Press has reported on the concerns raised by federal workers about the manipulation of official documents. A career White House employee highlighted discrepancies between the original transcript distributed internally and the edited version released to the public.
Republican leaders have seized on this issue, with House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer accusing the White House of disseminating a false transcript. They argue that this act may contravene the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and have hinted at possible investigations.
Stefanik and Comer issued a joint statement criticizing the White House for its handling of the situation. They argued that instead of rectifying or clarifying the president's statements, the administration chose to alter the official record.
In response to his original comment, Biden expressed his concern about the portrayal of Latinos in political discourse, describing such demonization as "unconscionable" and "un-American."
These remarks were made as he addressed the derogatory comments directed at Puerto Rico during the aforementioned Trump rally.
While the immediate response has been to halt Biden’s campaign engagements, the long-term political consequences of his comments and the transcript alteration remain uncertain. The situation continues to unfold as more figures in politics and the media weigh in on the controversy.
The White House has not issued a formal apology or further clarification regarding Biden's comments as the election nears, leaving some voters and officials looking for more answers as they consider the broader implications of such a high-stakes misstep.
