ABC News accused of editing out Biden gaffes in interview: ‘What is ABC News hiding?’
Dani Repass
|
ABC News has been accused of selectively editing an interview with President Joe Biden in which he made several misstatements about his son Beau; the network included the lines in a transcript but did not put them on air.
“Towards the end of his interview with ABC, there was a telling exchange,” Tucker Carlson said Thursday night on his show. “That exchange was never broadcast on camera. Now, television networks edit interviews very often for time. But ABC News appears to have edited out portions that made Joe Biden look – how to put it. Not presidential. Incoherent. Confused.”
Carlson then read from ABC News’ transcript. When asked by Stephanopoulos why the U.S. could not have withdrawn from Afghanistan with dignity, Biden’s response was confused.
“Look, that’s like askin’ [sic] my deceased son Beau, who spent six months in Kosovo and a year in Iraq as a Navy captain and then major — I mean, as an Army major,” Biden said in response to Stephanopoulos’ question. “And, you know, I’m sure h– he had regrets comin’ [sic] out of Afghanista [sic] – I mean, out of Iraq.”
Biden’s son Beau served as a major in the Delaware Army National Guard and returned home from Iraq in 2009. His father is on the record as saying he didn’t want Beau to go overseas.
“I don’t want him going. But I tell you what, I don’t want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years, and so how we leave makes a big difference,” Biden said back in 2008.
Although Biden has had a stutter ever since he was a young boy, Carlson suggested that the gaffe was more significant than a stutter.
“We think it’s worth knowing what happened, especially in a moment of national crisis,” Carlson said. “We are not attacking him, we are not telling you this with glee — we are telling you this because it’s true.”
Users on Twitter have also commented on the interview.
“What is ABC News hiding? Release the full, unedited video of the Biden interview, please,” Todd Starnes wrote in a tweet.
“ABC News? That’s rich,” Charles Mangus wrote in a tweet.”That was a white house [sic] produced, scripted, and edited by the biden press team. All ABC did was air it.”
“ABC News is accused of editing Biden’s car-crash interview to avoid him seeming ‘incoherent and confused’: Transcripts from unaired segments reveal he mistakenly said his son Beau served in the Navy in Afghanistan not the Army elsewhere…Biden does not even know what week it is,” a user called Mick B wrote in a tweet.
“Highlights from Biden’s ABC interview: Did not ‘recall’ being warned by U.S. Military to not push ahead with his plan, Did not know U.S. has troops in Syria, Did not know certain events in Kabul happened this week, Did not know people were getting killed,” Ryan Saavedra wrote in a tweet. “Sensing a pattern,” he added.
ABC News did not respond to the Independent Chronicle’s request for comment.