President Biden has thrust himself into controversy campaign to reach him, appearing to call supporters of former President Donald Trump “trash” in a video call with Latino activists Tuesday evening. Republicans seized on the comments, while the White House offered a different explanation for what Mr. Biden said.
The president was responding to a joke made at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden by a comedian Tony Hinchcliffewhich is called Hinchcliffe Puerto Rico “floating island of trash.”
In a video clip obtained by CBS News, it appears Mr. Biden, speaking via video to the leftist group Voto Latino, may have accused Trump supporters of being “trash.”
“The garbage I see floating there is his supporters,” he said. “The demonization of Latinos is unacceptable.”
But the White House denied that the president spoke about Trump’s supporters and released a transcript with a statement saying that “supporters” were actually “supporters,” and that Mr. Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe and jokingly.
A White House transcript said Mr. Biden said: “And the other day, a speaker at the rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” – I don’t know Puerto Rico that – that I know – or Puerto Rico, where I’m fr – in the front country of Delaware, they are good, decent, honorable people, only garbage I see floating out there are their supporters – they – the demonization of Latinos cannot be done, and it’s not America.
“The president called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘garbage,'” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Republicans seized on the video — Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who appeared with Trump at a rally in Allentown, PennsylvaniaTuesday night, addressed the crowd about Mr. Biden’s comments and called for the president to apologize.
Trump responded by saying, “Trash, I think, is worse,” and compared his comments to past statements made by Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she called half of Trump’s supporters “basketballs painful“Trump added that it was “horrible to say that.”
“I’m sorry, because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Trump said of Mr Biden jokingly, as his supporters shouted “No!”
Trump also sent a fundraising appeal to his supporters: “BOSS KAMALA JOE BIDEN JUST RUINED ALL MY SUPPORTERS!…YOU ARE AMAZING!”
President Biden clarified his comments in a post on X later Tuesday night.
“Earlier today, I called the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump supporters at the Madison Square Garden rally trash — that’s the only word I could think of to describe it. . “That’s all I’m saying. His comments at the rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
The brouhaha happened the same night that Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing arguments for the campaign. He sees Trump as a figure who will only deepen divisions in America if he is elected and vows to work with all — Democrats, Republicans and independents — to improve the lives of Americans.
Several Harris campaign aides did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Governor and Harris surrogate Josh Shapiro told CNN, “I will not insult the good people of Pennsylvania or America even if they choose to support a candidate I do not support.”
Hinchcliffe’s remarks at Trump’s rally, which also included offensive jokes about blacks and Latinos, were met with swift backlash, with several celebrities coming out to defend Puerto Rico and Latinos in the US and expressing support for Harris’ plan for the island. . Among those considered were Jennifer Lopez, Ariana DeBose and Ricky Martin. Martin, with more than 18 million followers, took to Instagram and posted, “Puerto Rico, this is what they think about us, vote for Kamala Harris.”
Trump, for his part, also said Tuesday that he didn’t know who Hinchcliffe was and didn’t understand the jokes he made. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but someone is saying something bad,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anyone to make a bad joke or a stupid joke. They probably shouldn’t be there,” Trump added. The campaign said the joke was not reviewed or approved before the campaign.
Ed O’Keefe
