Multiple campaign calls with Biden canceled amid fallout from ‘garbage’ remark
Multiple campaign calls that were scheduled with President Biden for Thursday were canceled, Fox News has learned, as the White House is still facing fallout of his remarks about supporters of former President Trump earlier this week.
Organizations that expected Biden's attendance did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether the Zoom calls still happened as scheduled, without the president.
None of the calls were officially affiliated with the Harris-Walz campaign. Biden has no official campaign events scheduled ahead of the election, as he still faces the backlash from his "garbage" remark on a virtual call with Voto Latino, which was also not directly tied to the campaign.
Fox News has reached out to the White House.
On the call, Biden was asked about Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico being a "floating island of garbage."
“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn't give a damn about the Latino community,” Biden said on the call. "He's a failed businessman. He only cares about the billionaire friends that he has and accumulating wealth for those at the top."
“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.' Well, let me tell you something…in my home state of Delaware, they're good, decent, honorable people. 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, everything we've been.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe’s joke.
"He does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage. That is not what he views," she said.
Posted by Louis Casiano