During his presser in Saudi Arabia on Friday, Joe Biden said that he brought up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Biden says he raised Jamal Khashoggi's murder with Crown Prime Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Saudi Arabia today.
"He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it. I indicated I thought he was."
Read more: https://t.co/Say6NFdWmd pic.twitter.com/N3FjvmU9ar
— Axios (@axios) July 15, 2022
“He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it. I indicated I thought he was,” Biden said.
When I heard that, I wondered if Biden was truly as direct as he was saying he was.
Well, now I’m wondering even more, given how the White House transcript reflected what Biden said in the presser about the conversation. The White House transcript falsely claims that Biden said: “I indicated that he probably was.”
Biden was asked today about MBS’s response to his comments on Khashoggi.
Video shows he said: “He basically said he was not personally responsible for it. I indicated that I thought he was.”
White House transcript wrongly claims Biden said: “I indicated that he *probably* was.” https://t.co/BXrt7eghqz pic.twitter.com/4LfRi9ZCTF
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) July 16, 2022
But that wasn’t what he said — it was a back-off and an attempt to soften what he told the press.
So, what did he say to MBS?
We’re supposed to believe that Biden accused MBS directly of being a murderer to his face, and then begged him for oil? No wonder Bided got nothing out of that exchange, but I doubt it was quite that direct. I suspect that the transcript is an attempt to more match the true conversation and not what Biden said at the presser. But whatever the facts about the actual conversation, the transcript once again does not reflect what Joe Biden said at the presser, despite it being the official record.
This is the third such incident that we know of in about a week, where the White House transcript reflects false information.
The first instance was where Biden infamously said “repeat the line,” seemingly reading the instructions off the teleprompter in a Ron Burgundy moment during remarks about a new abortion executive order.
Joe Biden accidentally reads the part on the teleprompter that says "repeat the line" when they wanted him to say the line again lmfao pic.twitter.com/pS3GdXPe5N
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 8, 2022
White House Assistant Press Secretary Emilie Simons tweeted that he had said “let me repeat the line” — which he clearly did not say. But after she said that, the White House transcript came out and reflected (falsely) that was what he said.
The second instance was cleaning up after Jill Biden and her very embarrassing taco comments.
At a "Latinx IncluXion" conference, Jill Biden says the Hispanic community is as "unique" as tacos.pic.twitter.com/Vb5wJyYGWB
— RNC Latinos (@RNCLatinos) July 11, 2022
Jill Biden clearly said “bogidas.” But the White House transcript said “bodegas” without any indication that she didn’t say that.
— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) July 12, 2022
This needs to be called out — it can’t go on; this is the third time they’ve falsified the official record. The statements need to be corrected for the record, but they also need to be called out for such blatant lying, when the facts are so evident in each case.
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