Ann Coulter called it “the lowest day of the Trump presidency.” Most people who care about immigration and have not been living under a rock heard this exchange between President Trump and Senator Dianne Feinstein yesterday:

From the official White House transcript:

SENATOR FEINSTEIN: I think there needs to be a willingness on both sides. And I think — and I don’t know how you would feel about this, but I’d like to ask the question: What about a clean DACA bill now, with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure? Like we did back — oh, I remember when Kennedy was here and it was really a major, major effort, and it was a great disappointment that it went nowhere.

THE PRESIDENT: I remember that. I have no problem. I think that’s basically what Dick is saying. We’re going to come up with DACA. We’re going to do DACA, and then we can start immediately on the phase two, which would be comprehensive.

SENATOR FEINSTEIN: Would you be agreeable to that?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I would like — I would like to do that. Go ahead. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first.

The bold language was especially troubling, because Trump was agreeing to a clean DACA bill.

Funny thing about that: the bolded language didn’t make its way into the initial version of the White House transcript:

The White House sent out a correction Wednesday to a transcript of President Donald Trump’s meeting with members of Congress in which he explicitly agreed to a Democratic proposal to fix Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program (DACA) before tackling immigration reform.

. . . .

In the corrected version, which the White House sent out Wednesday morning—nearly 24 hours after the meeting took place—Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Trump about the possibility of passing a legislative solution for DACA before turning to immigration reform, which would include issues like tougher border security.

Trump responded, “I would like — I would like to do that. Go ahead. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first. “

In the initial version, which the White House released on Tuesday, that comment from Trump was omitted. Instead, the quote read, “I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first.”

The White House story: it’s all on the stenographer. I suppose that’s possible. It’s just odd, the way that the most damning part of the quote was initially whisked away.

Hey: at least they didn’t doctor the actual video. That’s the way Obama’s shop used to do it.

None of this ever happened, gentlemen!

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