The official event will focus on Biden’s “historic support for unions,” leaning on the president’s deep ties to Pennsylvania to help bolster working-class turnout for Vice President Kamala Harris in a state she likely needs to win to have a shot at the presidency.
But it will also mark Biden’s first extended public remarks since the ill-fated Voto Latino call where he made his “garbage” remark, sparking days of debate over whether he was talking about all of Trump’s supporters or just one supporter — comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who had previously insulted Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage.”
Biden has since insisted that he was talking specifically about Hinchcliffe. But the episode is only drawing increasing scrutiny, after The Associated Press reported Thursday night that White House press officials altered an official transcript of the call to support Biden’s account.
The original transcript prepared by White House stenographers reportedly cited Biden as saying “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
But the White House press office altered the quote to read “supporter’s” after conferring with Biden, the AP reported, prompting objections from the stenographers, who are career officials, not political appointees.
It’s a debate sure to follow Biden into crucial Philadelphia, where eager Republicans and anxious Democrats alike will closely watch his speech for any hint of another gaffe.
And it’s further reinforcement within the Harris campaign for its decision not to have Harris appear with Biden in the final days before the election.
After Philadelphia, Biden is instead scheduled for an appearance in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. But that’s expected to be a smaller event — and one that Harris officials are hopeful won’t pull any more focus away from the vice president’s closing sprint through the battleground states.
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