As donald trump and his allies continue to try to avoid the consequences of the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage,” House Republican leaders are trying to keep President Joe Biden’s verbal gaffe over the incident in the spotlight in the final days of the election.

in a letter To White House counsel Edward Siskel on Friday, Representatives Elise Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican conference for New York, and James Comer, chairperson of the House Oversight Committee for Kentucky, asked to the White House documents and internal communications about Biden’s “trash” comments. . They also requested that the White House release a copy of the transcript sent to the National Archives and that the senior supervisor of the White House Shorthand Office report to the Oversight Committee.

Biden made his comment on a call with Latino activists on Tuesday while criticizing Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico. Biden was initially reported to have said: “The only trash I see floating around is his supporters, his own, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.” The transcript of Biden’s White House remarks included an apostrophe: “The only trash I see floating around is his supporters.” In any case, the apostrophe would not be audible as pronounced.

Republicans took advantage of the confusion, although Biden (who is known for his clumsy speech forks prone to making mistakes – later published in X that he was talking about “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by a Trump supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally.” (My colleague Zeeshan Aleem go into details on the Republican response to Biden’s comments).

House GOP leaders announced Wednesday that they are starting an investigation in Biden’s comment and the transcript. In their Friday letter to Siskel, they cited a report from The Associated Press that the White House had altered the official transcript of Biden’s call to include an apostrophe in “supporters” after the press office “conferred with the president.” (NBC News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the White House updated its transcript after a conversation with Biden about his comment).

Stefanik and Comer have questioned whether White House officials violated federal law when they allegedly altered the official transcript of Biden’s remarks. “The White House cannot simply rewrite President Biden’s rhetoric,” they wrote, suggesting it was doing so “to safeguard” Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

Is It’s worth keeping in mind that when Trump was president, the White House repeatedly altered transcripts of his comments, sometimes even completely omitting some of his more controversial comments.

There has been much talk about how Hinchcliffe’s offensive joke could affect the Puerto Rican vote, especially in swing states. With the election just days away, it’s also unclear how serious or impactful Stefanik and Comer’s concern about Biden’s response, and their effort to connect Harris to the gaffe, will be.