The White House altered President Joe Biden’s transcript from his Tuesday comments calling supporters of former President Donald Trump “garbage,” despite stenographers expressing concerns regarding the legality of the edits.
In an email reviewed by Fox News, a supervisor raised concerns regarding the White House press office’s “breach of protocol and spoilation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”
The edited transcript was from Biden’s Voto Latino campaign call on Tuesday, where the president attempted to respond to insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” duringTrump’s rally in Madison Square Garden.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it is un-American.”
Fox News reported that while the original transcript submitted by White House stenographers said “supporters,” the transcript released by the White House press office changed the word to “supporter’s” in an attempt to indicate that Biden was only criticizing the comedian and not all of the supporters of the former president.
The Associated Press reported that the transcript change was made after the press office “conferred with the president,” based on an internal email from the head of the stenographer’s office.
READ MORE: Videos: Biden calls Trump supporters ‘garbage’
“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” a supervisor wrote in an email obtained by Fox News. “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.”
Amy Sands, the director of White House Stenography, also raised concerns to the White House press office following the transcript edits. In an email, Sands said, “After last night’s process, our team would like to reiterate that rush drafts/excerpts the Stenography Office sends to assist the Press Office are not intended for public distribution or as the final version of the transcript.”
Sands added, “Please avoid sharing rush drafts/excerpts, which are subject to review and might create confusion among staff, media, and the public while our Stenography Office completes a thorough review process.”
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, told Fox News that Biden confirmed in his Tuesday evening tweet that his comment was aimed at the “hateful rhetoric” from Hinchcliffe at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden. Bates added, “That was reflected in the transcript.”
Fox News reported that it is still not clear whether the transcript the White House has referred to is the final transcript sent to the National Archives or the transcript that was edited and released to the media.
