WASHINGTON – The White House altered the official transcript of President Joe Biden’s remarks this week about the Trump campaign and “garbage” as it rushed to clarify that the president’s words had been taken out of context, people familiar with the matter said on Nov 1.

       The debate over the meaning of Mr Biden’s words ultimately comes down to an apostrophe, which the White House press office inserted into the transcript without the authorisation of the White House Stenography Office, the non-partisan group that prepares the official record.

       The head of the stenography office said the alteration, which was first reported by The Associated Press, was a violation of protocol. It was also a sign of how seriously the White House took the uproar over the remarks, which drew waves of criticism from Republicans just days before a toss-up election between Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

       The comments in question came on the night of Oct 29 as Mr Biden spoke during a video call with Latino supporters about Mr Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and Trump supporter who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

       According to the initial transcript prepared by the stenographers, Mr Biden said “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his, his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American”.

       Republicans seized on the remark, saying Mr Biden was insulting all Trump supporters. White House officials tried to clarify that Mr Biden was talking about Mr Hinchcliffe’s comments alone. Officials from the press office tried to reach out to the supervisor’s office, but moved ahead with the alteration without hearing back, according to people familiar with the matter.

       They released a transcript to reporters that rendered the quote as “his supporter’s” demonisation, meaning that Mr Hinchcliffe’s demonisation was garbage.

       The supervisor of the stenographer’s office, Ms Amy Sands, said in an e-mail to White House officials that the press office’s decision to amend the transcript without her approval was “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices”, according to people who saw the e-mail and described its contents. The press officials had “conferred with the president”, according to the e-mail exchange.

       Ms Sands said White House officials could have withheld the transcript if they objected to the original version but they “cannot edit it independently”. She did not weigh in on the accuracy of the apostrophe.

       The people who saw the e-mail spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private e-mail. Ms Sands declined to comment and referred an inquiry to the press office.

       “The president confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday (Oct 29) evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally,” said Mr Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson who posted the amended transcript on social media on the night of Oct 30 after Mr Biden finished his Zoom call with Latino supporters. “That was reflected in the transcript.”

       House Republicans accused the White House, in a letter they released on Oct 30, of violating the Presidential Records Act by “releasing a false transcript”. Democrats have, however, accused Republicans of faux outrage given that Trump has called his political opponents “vermin” and “enemy of the people”.

       In their letter to the White House counsel, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee, wrote: “White House staff cannot rewrite the words of the president of the United States to be more politically on message.” NYTIMES