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EXCLUSIVE: House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer are accusing the White House of releasing a false transcript of President Biden’s remarks through which he apparently referred to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage,” warning that the revision might violate the Presidential Records Act.
Fox News Digital obtained a letter Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Comer, R-Ky., despatched to White House counsel Edward Siskel on Wednesday afternoon through which they demand information referring to the remarks and the transcript are preserved.
President Biden was broadly criticized for his “garbage” comment about former President Trump’s supporters. (Getty Images)
“In less than one week, the American people will determine the winner of the 2024 presidential election. They will choose between two candidates: President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden — marred by unpopular policies, scandal, and apparent cognitive deterioration — has chosen not to pursue a second term in office,” they wrote.
“President Biden, however, has continued to play a prominent role in Vice President Harris’s campaign and, indeed, is the most powerful mouthpiece for the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies and views that Ms. Harris presumably seeks to continue under a hypothetical Harris-Walz Administration.”
Stefanik and Comer pointed to Biden’s remarks Tuesday evening, saying “Americans were rightfully insulted, then, when President Biden, seeking to boost Ms. Harris’ presidential campaign, referred to an enormous swath of the country as “floating…rubbish.”
“President Biden’s vindictive phrases had been unsurprising, given his earlier statements relating to individuals who select to not vote for his most well-liked candidate,” they wrote. “Unsurprising too had been the White House’s actions after he mentioned them.”
Stefanik and Comer said the White House, “as a substitute of apologizing or clarifying President Biden’s phrases,” sought to “change them (regardless of them being recorded on video) by releasing a false transcript of his remarks.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. (Getty Images)
“The transfer will not be solely craven, but it surely additionally seems to be in violation of federal regulation, together with the Presidential Records Act of 1978,” they wrote. “White House employees can’t rewrite the phrases of the President of the United States to be extra politically on message.”
The letter comes after President Biden spoke during a Zoom call with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S., on Tuesday. Biden was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of rubbish.”
Biden replied: “The solely rubbish I see floating out there may be his supporters.”
The White House has since denied that Biden called Trump supporters “rubbish” and claimed the comment was taken out of context.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. (Faith and Freedom Coalition )
The White House, on Wednesday, released a transcript of Biden’s remarks.
The official White House transcript reads: “The solely rubbish I see floating out there may be his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates sought to clarify Biden’s remarks, saying: “The president referred to the hateful rhetoric on the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”
And the president tweeted in the same vein.
“Earlier right this moment I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as rubbish—which is the one phrase I can suppose of to explain it,” Biden posted to X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The feedback at that rally do not replicate who we’re as a nation.”
Now, Vice President Kamala Harris is seeking to distance herself from the remarks, but she’s also defending the president, saying he “clarified his feedback.”
President Biden delivers a speech at Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
“But let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of folks based mostly on who they vote for,” Harris said.
Harris, referring to her Tuesday night speech from the Ellipse near the White House, reiterated on Wednesday how voters will decide “who we’re as a nation and whether or not we’re going to be a nation of individuals who try to unify and breakthrough this period of divisiveness, or are we going to be a nation of individuals who have a president stewing within the Oval Office over his enemies record.”
“You heard my speech final evening and constantly all through my profession,” Harris said. “I consider that the work that I do is about representing all of the folks, whether or not they help me or not, and as President of the United States, I can be a president for all Americans whether or not you vote for me or not.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign rally on the Ellipse Oct. 29, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
In their letter to White House counsel, Stefanik and Comer wrote, “Though President Biden’s relevance continues to decrease, his phrases proceed to matter, whilst they turn out to be more and more divisive and erratic.”
Stefanik and Comer demanded the White House “retain and protect all paperwork and inside communications relating to President Biden’s assertion and the discharge of the incorrect transcript.”
“We additionally demand that the White House situation a corrected transcript with the correct phrases,” they wrote.
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Meanwhile, Trump, in a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, mentioned Biden and Harris have “handled our entire nation like rubbish.”
“My response to Joe and Kamala could be very easy: You can’t lead America if you happen to don’t love Americans,” Trump declared. “And you possibly can’t be president if you happen to hate the American folks, and there’s so much of hatred there.”
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