As Donald Trump and his allies continue to try to contain the fallout from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of trash,” Republican House leaders are trying to address President Joe Biden’s verbal blunder over the incident in recent days to keep in the spotlight. of the election.
In a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel, Representatives Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference from New York, and James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee from Kentucky, asked the White House to documents and internal communications about Biden’s “garbage” comments. They also requested that the White House release a copy of the transcript sent to the National Archives, which the top supervisor of the White House Stenography Office briefed the Oversight Committee.
Biden made his comments Tuesday during a phone call with Latino activists in which he criticized Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico. Biden is reported to have initially said: “The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.” The transcript of Biden’s remarks at the White House included an apostrophe: “The only trash I see floating out there is that of his supporters.” In either case, the apostrophe would not be audible when spoken.
Republicans seized on the confusion, though Biden — known for his stumbling speech and prone to gaffes — later posted on Garden.” (My colleague Zeeshan Aleem goes into detail about the Republican response to Biden’s comments.)
Republican House leaders announced Wednesday that they are launching an investigation into Biden’s comment and the transcript. In their Friday letter to Siskel, they cited a report from The Associated Press that the White House had changed the official transcript of Biden’s call to include an apostrophe between “supporters” after the news agency “consulted with the president.” (NBC News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the White House updated his transcript after speaking to Biden about his comment.)
Stefanik and Comer have questioned whether White House officials broke federal law when they allegedly changed the official transcript of Biden’s remarks. “The White House cannot simply rewrite President Biden’s rhetoric,” they wrote, suggesting it did so “to safeguard Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.”
It’s worth keeping in mind that when Trump was president, the White House repeatedly changed the transcripts of his remarks, sometimes even omitting some of his more controversial remarks altogether.
Much has been made of how Hinchcliffe’s offensive joke could affect the way Puerto Ricans vote, especially in swing states. With the election just days away, it’s equally unclear how serious or impactful Stefanik and Comer’s preoccupation with Biden’s response — and their attempt to link Harris to the gaffe — will be.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
