White House Orders Government Stenographers to Alter the Transcript of Biden's "Garbage" Comments, Turning the Historical Record Into a Democrat Lie

The Secret Apostrophe.

Late Tuesday, as Joe Biden's comment referring to Donald Trump's supporters as "garbage" created a firestorm, top communications aides inside the White House broke with protocol, amending the official transcript of his comment -- without waiting for sign-off from the stenography office.

The edit was a single apostrophe -- but one freighted with political and electoral implications.

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Biden's statement and the firestorm since has threatened to distract from Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign ahead of Election Day. The call on which Biden made the remarks was held shortly before Harris' campaign speech just hundreds of yards away on the Ellipse making her closing argument for voters to reject Trump.

The edit to the official White House transcript underscores the lengths Biden administration officials went to limit the political damage of Biden's comments. The fallout of the president's remark continues to reverberate, adding even greater anxiety to Biden's final public appearances before the election, expected Friday and Saturday. In addition, Republicans on Capitol Hill are already asking questions about the transcript change, raising the possibility of an investigation.

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The Associated Press first reported on the administration's altering of the original transcript on Thursday night, adding fuel to a controversy that Harris and the White House are eager to move past. Both Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, were quick on Wednesday morning to disavow any disparaging of people, intended or not, based on who they vote for or support.

That report referenced an email the director of the stenography office, Amy Sands, sent to LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other aides in the press and communications shop on Wednesday laying out what happened and why it was a breach of procedure.

Sands, according to two of the people familiar with the process, had sought out those colleagues in person on Wednesday morning and spoke to at least one of them directly before sending the email.

Sands, who has worked in the White House stenography office for more than a decade, declined to comment.

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In her email, Sands did not weigh in on the accuracy of the press team's edit or indicate that she would or would not have approved the amended transcript. Her expressed concern was not having the chance to review the audio and make a determination herself.

Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger

Biden didn't call Trump supporters "garbage," the media said. But he did. And now two officials and an internal email reveal that the White House press office altered the transcript after it "conferred with the president" in direct violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Meanwhile: The neocons join with the liberals in editing Trump's remarks to make them sound bad.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:04 PM

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