The comment in question fell Biden in a video call on Tuesday with representatives of a group representing Latino voters.
When the conversation turned to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's joke at Trump's meeting, where he called Puerto Rico "an island of trash", Biden said that Puerto Ricans in his home state Delaware are "good, decent people" and continued:
The only trash I see floating around is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is conscienceless and un-American, he said.
The outburst was quickly picked up by Trump, who during his campaign meeting in Allentown, Pennsylvania, brought up Republican Senator Mark Rubio, who responded to Biden:
A little while ago, Joe Biden claimed that our supporters, our patriots, are trash, said Rubio.
After the criticism of Biden's outburst, the White House published a transcript of the conversation, claiming that Biden spoke unclearly and instead meant that it was the joke about Puerto Rico that was intended and not Trump's supporters.
Late on Tuesday night, the President himself also published a clarification in the form of a post on X:
"Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric that Trump's supporters spewed at the election meeting in Madison Square Garden as trash – which is the only word I think reasonable to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is conscienceless. That's what I meant", writes Biden.
