President Biden reinserted himself into the contentious campaign to succeed him, appearing to call former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” on a video call with Latino activists Tuesday evening. Republicans seized on the comments, while the White House offered a different explanation of what Mr. Biden said.

The president was responding to a joke made at a Trump rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, in which Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” 

In the video clip obtained by CBS News, it sounded like Mr. Biden, who was speaking by video to left-leaning group Voto Latino, might be denouncing Trump supporters as “garbage.” 

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” he seemed to say. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.”

But the White House denied that the president had said this about Trump supporters and released a transcript with a statement noting that “supporters” was in fact “supporter’s,” and Mr. Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe and his joke.

A White House transcript says this is what Mr. Biden said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”  Well, let me tell you something.  I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know —or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr— in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.  It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage,'” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. 

Republicans seized on the video — Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who was appearing with Trump at his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night, told the crowd about Mr. Biden’s comments and demanded the president apologize.

Trump responded saying, “Garbage, I think, is worse,” and compared the comment to a past statement made by Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she referred to half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Trump added it was “terrible to say a thing like that.”

“Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said,” Trump said of Mr. Biden jokingly, as his supporters screamed “No!”

Trump also sent a fundraising appeal to supporters: “KAMALA’S BOSS JOE BIDEN JUST CALLED ALL MY SUPPORTERS GARBAGE!…YOU ARE AMAZING!”

President Biden clarified his comment in a post on X later Tuesday night. 

“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. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Mr. Biden wrote. “That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.” 

The brouhaha occurred on the same night Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing argument for the campaign. She held up Trump as a figure who would only deepen divisions in America if he’s elected and vowed to work with all — Democrats, Republicans and independents — on improving the lives of Americans.

Several Harris campaign aides did not reply to requests for comment late Tuesday.

Pennsylvania Governor and Harris surrogate Josh Shapiro told CNN, “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate I didn’t support.”

Hinchcliffe’s remarks at the Trump rally, which also included offensive jokes about Black people and Latinos, were met with swift backlash, with several celebrities coming out in defense of Puerto Rico and Latinos in the U.S. and voicing their support for Harris’ plan for the island. Among those who weighed in were Jennifer Lopez, Ariana DeBose and Ricky Martin. Martin, with over 18  million followers, took to Instagram and posted, “Puerto Rico, this is what they think of us, vote for Kamala Harris.” 

Trump, for his part, also said Tuesday that he did not know who Hinchcliffe was and was unaware of the joke he had made. “It’s nobody’s fault, but somebody said some bad things,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes. Probably he shouldn’t have been there,” Trump added. His campaign said the jokes were not reviewed or pre-approved by the campaign. 

Ed O’Keefe

Ed O’Keefe is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent. He previously worked for The Washington Post covering presidential campaigns, Congress and federal agencies. His primary focus is on President Biden, Vice President Harris and political issues across the country.

An Alabama man who left threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the county sheriff last summer because he was angry over an investigation into former President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in federal prison.

Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Huntsville, made the phone calls just over a week before Trump and 18 others were indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say Hanson left voicemails laced with profanity and racial slurs for Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee in Atlanta said he found Hanson’s behavior “appalling” and that the victims’ fear was “real and legitimate.” He sentenced Hanson to serve a year and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Hanson to pay a fine of $7,500.

Hanson had pleaded guilty in June to leaving threatening phone messages. Speaking for nearly 10 minutes during Tuesday’s hearing, Hanson was tearful as he apologized to Willis and Labat.

“I’m truly sorry for making those phone calls,” he said. “That is not who I am.”

Willis told the judge that the threats left her fearing not only for herself but for the lives of her daughters and her father. Before she’s the district attorney, she’s a mom, she told the judge: “Mom was really scared.”

Labat also briefly addressed the court, saying the threats exposed his family to “the ugly side of the job.”

Defense attorney Tyler Wolas told the judge that Hanson has a history of abusing alcohol. In pushing for a lesser sentence, he also said Hanson suffers from grand mal seizures and, after his arrest, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Wolas noted that Hanson had completed an anger management course and is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Three of Hanson’s friends and his 19-year-old son told the judge that he is a good and generous person and that those phone calls don’t reflect the man they know.

Hanson said he had been drinking and didn’t remember leaving the messages. He said he was “repulsed and sickened” when he heard the recordings. He said he is not racist, though he acknowledged it might sound that way, and said Willis and Labat did not deserve to be threatened.

He used to be someone who was a regular commenter online and allowed himself to get caught up in a “social media frenzy,” he said, adding that he has given up social media and stopped drinking.

The Fulton County indictment on Aug. 14, 2023, was the fourth criminal case brought against Trump in a matter of months and was widely anticipated. When reporters asked shortly before it was returned whether Trump would have a mug shot taken if he was charged, the sheriff said, “Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mug shot ready for you.”

Hanson called the Fulton County government customer service line and left voicemails for the prosecutor and the sheriff on Aug. 6, 2023. Prosecutors included transcripts of the messages in a sentencing memo submitted to the court.

In a message for Willis, Hanson warned her to watch out, that she won’t always have people around who can protect her and that there would be moments when she would be vulnerable. “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript.

In the message for Labat, Hanson threatened the sheriff, warning him not to take a mug shot of Trump. “I’m just telling you that if you take a mugshot of the president and you’re the reason it happened, some bad (expletive)’s probably gonna happen to you,” the voice message said, according to court records.

Hanson’s attorneys had asked that he be sentenced to probation and community service or to home confinement rather than prison. They noted that his 19-year-old son lives with him and that his mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has little time left to live.

Prosecutor Bret Hobson called Hanson’s crime “incredibly serious” and said he caused real harm to the victims and their families. He asked for the sentence that was given, which was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. He argued that anyone who considers threatening a public official “needs to think prison is a possibility.”

Boulee said he would have given Hanson a longer sentence, but he took into account what his lawyers and loved ones said, as well as prosecutors’ recommendation. But he made clear that he found Hanson’s behavior unacceptable.

“To add insult to injury, you not only attacked them for doing their job, you attacked them because of the color of the skin,” Boulee said. He said the racial slurs in the messages were an “attempt to make them feel low and less valued.”

Willis said after the hearing that she had forgiven Hanson. She said it was important that the judge mentioned the racist nature of the threats so that Black people know they can come into a courtroom and feel protected.

Willis is running for reelection, and the case against Trump is largely on hold while a pretrial appeal is pending. But when asked whether she plans to continue her prosecution if Trump wins next month’s presidential election, Willis said she plans to “continue to prosecute every single case in my office.”