WASHINGTON — White House press officials changed the official text of a call in which President Biden appeared to attack supporters of Donald Trump, prompting objections from federal employees who document such remarks for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an insider. Email obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Biden caused a stir with his remarks towards Latino activists who responded to racist comments made at a Trump rally by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called the US island of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”.

According to a transcript prepared by the White House’s official stenographers, Biden told the Latino group in a Tuesday evening video call: “The only nonsense floating around is his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s not fair-American.”

However, in the transcript released by the White House press office, the quote was presented with an apostrophe, reading “supporters” rather than “supporters”; aides said Biden was pointing out that he was criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who supported Trump for president.

The change was made after the press office “met with the president,” according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office 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.

In his email, the Chief described the press office’s handling of the matter as a “violation of protocol and disruption of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”

“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to retain the transcript but cannot independently edit it,” the supervisor wrote, adding: “Our Shorthand Office transcript made available for distribution to the National Archives is now available and differs from the version edited and made public by Press Office staff.”

The editing of the transcript comes as the White House scrambles to respond to a series of questions from reporters about Biden’s comments. The president’s remarks contrasted with a nearly simultaneous speech by Vice President Kamala Harris in front of the White House, in which she called for Americans with different ideologies to be treated with respect.

The Trump campaign moved quickly to fundraise the quote, and the next day Trump posed for a photo inside a garbage truck to capitalize on Biden’s criticism.

Harris distanced herself from Biden’s comments on Wednesday, marking the clearest break from the president since she replaced him at the top of the Democratic field three months ago. “Let me be clear, I completely disagree with people being criticized based on who they voted for,” he told reporters.

According to the email, the press office had asked stenographers to quickly prepare a transcript of the conversation amid the firestorm. Biden said on social media that he wasn’t calling all Trump supporters trash and was specifically referring to the “hateful rhetoric that Trump supporter spewed about Puerto Rico at the Madison Square Garden rally.”

The stenographer’s office is charged with preparing accurate transcripts of the president’s public and private speeches for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the public.

The two-person stenographic team on duty that evening (a “typist” and a “proofreader”) said that any edits to the transcript had to be approved by their superior, the head of the stenographer’s office.

The auditor was not immediately available to review the audio, but the press office went ahead and posted the amended text on the White House website and distributed it to the press and social media in an attempt to suppress the story.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates also published an edited version of the quote on X that evening, writing that Biden “called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘garbage.'”

.@POTUS He called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘garbage.'”

Transcription text: pic.twitter.com/oBqWHn8xYL

— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) 30 October 2024

The supervisor, a career White House employee, expressed concern about the press office action in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — but said the arrangement did not evaluate its accuracy. other press and communications officials.

“Regardless of urgency, it is critical to the authenticity and legitimacy of our transcripts that we adhere to a consistent protocol for editing, approval, and requesting publication,” the supervisor wrote.

The supervisor declined to comment to the AP and referred questions about the matter to the White House press office.

Asked for comment, Bates did not address the change of transcript, saying: “The President confirmed in a tweet Tuesday evening that Trump addressed the comedian’s hateful rhetoric at his Madison Square Garden rally. This situation was also reflected in the minutes.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans were discussing launching an investigation into the matter. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-Ky.) and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) accused White House staff on Wednesday of “releasing a false transcript” of Biden’s remarks.

In a letter to White House counsel Ed Siskel on Wednesday, they wrote: The management was called to preserve the documents Internal communications regarding Biden’s statements and the release of the report.

“White House staff cannot rewrite the President of the United States’ remarks to suit a more political message,” the lawmakers wrote to Siskel.

Stefanik and Comer said the action could violate the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

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