Republicans want documents released in Biden ‘garbage’ comment row

Top Republicans have called on the White House to produce all documents and internal communications regarding President Joe Biden’s statement earlier this week in which he appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Donald Trump.

White House press officials altered the official transcript of Mr Biden’s statement, drawing objections from the federal workers who document such remarks for posterity, according to two US Government officials and an internal email obtained on Thursday by The Associated Press.

The Republican lawmakers said they question whether the decision to create “a false transcript and manipulate or alter the accurate transcript” produced for the National Archives and Records Administration was a violation of federal law.

Representative James Comer, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and House Republican conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik demanded the White House produce the records.

They also called on the White House to make available for a briefing the top supervisor of its stenography office.

Mr Comer and Ms Stefanik said: “The White House cannot simply rewrite President Biden’s rhetoric.

“We are concerned with the latest reporting of the White House’s apparent political decision to protect the Biden-Harris administration, instead of following longstanding and proper protocols.”

Mr Biden created an uproar earlier this week with his remarks to Latino activists responding to racist comments at a Trump rally made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.

Mr Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told Latino activists on a Tuesday evening video call that “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American”.

The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters”, which aides said pointed to Mr Biden criticising Mr Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Mr Trump for president.