Vice President Kamala Harris says she ‘strongly’ disagrees with ‘any criticism of people based on who they vote for’ after President Biden made comments on Tuesday in which he seemed to be calling Trump supporters ‘trash’ during video call with Latino activists. Republicans seized on the comment, with the White House offering a different explanation of what Mr. Biden had said and the president tweeting a clarification of his comment.
“Let me be clear: I absolutely do not agree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris told reporters on Wednesday morning, when asked about Mr Biden’s “garbage” comment. “You heard my speech last night and throughout my career: I believe the work I do is about representing all people, whether they support me or not. And as President of the United States, I will be a President for all are.” Americans, whether you vote for me or not.”
News of the president’s comment spread quickly after Harris delivered her closing argument before a huge crowd near the White House Tuesday night, calling for unity and pledging to work with independents and Republicans, as well as Democrats, to help improve Americans’ lives.
In a video call with Latino activists Tuesday evening, the president responded to a joke the comedian made during a Trump rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden Tony Hinchcliffein which Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of waste’.
“The only trash I see floating out there are his supporters,” he appeared to say, according to video of the conversation. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.”
But the White House denied that the president said this about Trump supporters, releasing a transcript with a statement saying that “supporters” were in fact “supporters,” and Mr. Biden referred to Hinchcliffe and his joke. Mr. Biden clarified his comments later Tuesday evening.
“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by the Trump supporter at his rally at Madison Square Garden as nonsense – and that’s the only word I can think of to describe it,” said the president in a statement. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that meeting do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
Backlash against the president’s comments was immediate, especially among Republicans and conservatives. But Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a key Harris surrogate, also distanced himself from the president’s comments.
“I hadn’t heard that until now, Kaitlan, so I’m just going to give you kind of my fresh reaction to it,” Shapiro told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in response to the clip of the president’s comments. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American for that matter, even if they chose to support a candidate I do not support.”
Trump, Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are all campaigning in North Carolina on Wednesday as early voting continues in May. As of Wednesday morning, more than 55 million Americans had voted early.
Ed O’Keefe, Weijia Jiang, Jacob Rosen, Olivia Rinaldi,
and Arden Farhi contributed to this report.
