Steve Scalise Defends Deleted Twitter Video After Disabled Activist Calls Him Out For Doctoring Interview With Joe Biden
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) defended his now-deleted Twitter video after being called out for manipulating the comments of a disabled man in order to launch an attack on Joe Biden.
Scalise joined Fox & Friends on Monday morning, which comes a day after Twitter flagged him for pushing a “manipulated” video that falsely insinuates Biden supports calls to defund the police. Scalise’s video did this by deceptively altering the words of Ady Barkan, an activist nearly paralyzed by ALS, who demanded an apology from Scalise for impersonating his computerized voice and distorting his comments.
These are not my words.
I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts.
You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain.
Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology. https://t.co/N6G5RgMXlO
— Ady Barkan (@AdyBarkan) August 30, 2020
When Scalise was asked about this, he began by saying the video “shouldn’t have been edited, but at the same time, the comments were always about [defunding the police].” He went on to claim Biden used the interview with Barkan to express support twice for redirecting funding away from the police.
“He sent out the video again, the full video in fact…but again, multiple times Joe Biden is asked if he supports redirecting money away from police, and Joe Biden says yes,” Scalise argued. “Redirecting and defunding the police are the same thing.”
Here’s the full context of Biden’s remarks to Barkan, courtesy of Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler:
Scalise allies and Trumpians are trying to justify the ad by circulating a truncated transcript of the interview. They only include the segments here in bold, leaving out where Biden explains this is not the same defunding the police. Shameful behavior. pic.twitter.com/wvtHHST1ph
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) August 30, 2020
