White House stenographers are tasked with taking down every public word the president utters. Their job depends on doing that accurately and in an unbiased manner. But after Joe Biden made his insanely stupid crack about Trump supporters being "garbage," the Biden White House went into full-on CYA mode.
They wanted to alter the transcript; not because it was inaccurate but because it was political dynamite. This was against the rules, as the supervisor of the stenographers' office reminded the White House Press Office.
Related: How Many Ways Can the Media Cover for Biden's Garbage Gaffe?
“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” the supervisor wrote. “Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff.”
How did they want to alter the official transcript? The original document, prepared by the stenographers, had the president saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization 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 Biden criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president.
The change was made after the press office “conferred with the president,” according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office that was obtained by The AP. The authenticity of the email was confirmed by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
The supervisor, in the email, called the press office’s handling of the matter “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”
Assistant Press Secretary Andrew Bates spread the word to the media about the "real" meaning of what Biden said and the reason for the confusion.
That darned apostrophe.
The apostrophe here is doing a lot of heavy lifting. But if it is to carry the meaning the WH says, it should have appeared after the s. https://t.co/87w3bkrwbV pic.twitter.com/5Hf8cXyyM1
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 30, 2024
Other media outlets echoed the "apostrophe confusion." This probably made the stenographers very mad. The White House was saying they blew it when they had performed their job perfectly. Biden said what he said, and no "misplaced apostrophe" was going to change it.
But the stenographer's hands were tied. Although the rules said they had to get the permission of their supervisor to alter the transcript, the supervisor was unavailable, so the White House released the transcript anyway.
The supervisor, a career employee of the White House, raised the concerns about the press office action — but did not weigh in on the accuracy of the edit — in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other press and communications officials.
“Regardless of urgency, it is essential to our transcripts’ authenticity and legitimacy that we adhere to consistent protocol for requesting edits, approval, and release,” the supervisor wrote.
The supervisor declined to comment to The AP and referred questions about the matter to the White House press office.
House Republicans may launch an investigation into "L'Affaire d'apostrophe."
“White House staff cannot rewrite the words of the President of the United States to be more politically on message,” the lawmakers wrote to Ed Siskel, senior White House counsel. The lawmakers "called on the administration to retain documents and internal communications related to Biden’s remarks and the release of the transcript."
Nothing will come of any "investigation," of course. But at least the White House stenos have been vindicated.
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