President Biden reinserted himself into the contentious campaign to succeed him, appearing to call former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” on a video call with Latino activists Tuesday evening. Republicans seized on the comments, while the White House offered a different explanation of what Mr. Biden said.
The president was responding to a joke made at a Trump rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, in which Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
In the video clip obtained by CBS News, it sounded like Mr. Biden, who was speaking by video to left-leaning group Voto Latino, might be denouncing Trump supporters as “garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” he seemed to say. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.”
But the White House denied that the president had said this about Trump supporters and released a transcript with a statement noting that “supporters” was in fact “supporter’s,” and Mr. Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe and his joke.
A White House transcript says this is what Mr. Biden said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know —or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr— in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage,'” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Republicans seized on the video — Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who was appearing with Trump at his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night, told the crowd about Mr. Biden’s comments and demanded the president apologize.
Trump responded saying, “Garbage, I think, is worse,” and compared the comment to a past statement made by Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she referred to half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Trump added it was “terrible to say a thing like that.”
“Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said,” Trump said of Mr. Biden jokingly, as his supporters screamed “No!”
The comments — and hasty attempts by the president’s aides to clarify his words — suggest a partisan-fueled argument over syntax could dominate the final days of a campaign with fewer than 200 hours to go.
And they may serve as a late-stage gift to Trump, who spent more than a year attacking the mental and physical fitness of the president, only to see his strategy upended by Harris’ sudden ascension to the race. In recent weeks, Trump has seized on Harris’ difficulty answering questions about how she’d be different than Mr. Biden. She’s since said in interviews that “of course” her presidency would be different than her boss’.
Trump also sent a fundraising appeal to supporters: “KAMALA’S BOSS JOE BIDEN JUST CALLED ALL MY SUPPORTERS GARBAGE!…YOU ARE AMAZING!”
President Biden clarified his comment in a post on X later Tuesday night.
“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Mr. Biden wrote. “That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
The brouhaha occurred on the same night Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing argument for the campaign. She held up Trump as a figure who would only deepen divisions in America if he’s elected and vowed to work with all — Democrats, Republicans and independents — on improving the lives of Americans.
Several Harris campaign aides did not reply to requests for comment late Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Governor and Harris surrogate Josh Shapiro told CNN, “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate I didn’t support.”
Hinchcliffe’s remarks at the Trump rally, which also included offensive jokes about Black people and Latinos, were met with swift backlash, with several celebrities coming out in defense of Puerto Rico and Latinos in the U.S. and voicing their support for Harris’ plan for the island. Among those who weighed in were Jennifer Lopez, Ariana DeBose and Ricky Martin. Martin, with over 18 million followers, took to Instagram and posted, “Puerto Rico, this is what they think of us, vote for Kamala Harris.”
Trump, for his part, also said Tuesday that he did not know who Hinchcliffe was and was unaware of the joke he had made. “It’s nobody’s fault, but somebody said some bad things,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes. Probably he shouldn’t have been there,” Trump added. His campaign said the jokes were not reviewed or pre-approved by the campaign.
Ed O’Keefe is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent. He previously worked for The Washington Post covering presidential campaigns, Congress and federal agencies. His primary focus is on President Biden, Vice President Harris and political issues across the country.
