Harris plays cleanup on Biden ‘garbage' comment

• Vice President Kamala Harris distanced herself from a comment by President Joe Biden that appeared to call supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump "garbage."
• Biden said he was referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's racist joke about Puerto Rico at a campaign rally for Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday.
• The Democratic presidential nominee flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for campaign events.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday distanced herself from President Joe Biden's controversial comment that appeared to label supporters of former President Donald Trump as "garbage."

"I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," Harris told reporters before the Democratic presidential nominee flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for campaign events.

"You heard my speech last night. I believe the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not," Harris said. "I will be a president for all Americans."

Harris also said that Biden had "clarified" the comment he made Tuesday.

But she underscored that her campaign is searching for any votes that she can get — and is anxious not to lose any — with less than a week before Election Day.

"I'm going to be spending full time talking to people no matter who they voted last time," Harris said.

The vice president said she had spoken with Biden on Tuesday night, but that they did not discuss what he had said earlier in the night.

Biden had been on a video call Tuesday about outreach to Latino voters, when the conversation turned to the several racist jokes comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made at a rally for the GOP nominee and former president in New York City on Sunday.

"Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage,'" Biden said on the call.

"They're good, decent, honorable people," Biden said, referring to Puerto Ricans. "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American. It's totally contrary to everything we've done."

That comment quickly drew criticism from Republicans backing Trump. Within hours, the White House took the rare step of releasing a revised transcript of Biden's remarks. In this version, it seemed that Biden was saying the "garbage" was Hinchcliffe's demonization of Latinos, not Trump supporters.

Biden himself then took the even more unusual step of making his own statement, insisting he did not mean to call Trump supporters "garbage."

"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," Biden said in a tweet on X late Tuesday night.

"His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don't reflect who we are as a nation."

Despite the cleanup efforts, Biden's comment — mangled or otherwise — threw a monkey wrench into the Harris campaign's plan to highlight her pledge to govern for all Americans, regardless of party.

Instead, Harris allies appearing on Wednesday's morning news shows had to answer questions about what Biden said.

Biden's comment also complicated the Harris campaign's plan to exploit the backlash to Hinchcliffe's joke about Puerto Rico.

Pennsylvania, which is perhaps the most prized swing state in the 2024 election, has nearly 500,000 Puerto Rican residents, who represent the largest share of Latino voters in the state.

Hinchcliffe's comment threatened to alienate at least some Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

In the 2016 election, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania by fewer than 45,000 votes, or less than 1% of the vote.

In 2020, Biden beat Trump in the state by fewer than 81,000 votes, a margin of less than 1.2%.