Did Biden call Trump supporters ‘garbage’? It comes down to an apostrophe.

A single apostrophe - or lack thereof - caused an uproar in the presidential race Tuesday night after President Joe Biden criticized former president Donald Trump during a virtual event and later denied he was referring to Trump’s supporters as “garbage.”

Biden was speaking on an evening call to rally Latino voters when he brought up a Trump rally speaker’s racist insult of Puerto Rico over the weekend.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said, referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comment at Trump’s rally Sunday in New York.

The president, as he has recently been prone to do, then stumbled over his words as he sought to suggest that Hinchcliffe’s characterization is not how he would describe the Puerto Ricans he knows.

“They’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His - his - his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said, according to an audio recording from a Washington Post reporter who listened in on the call.

Asked for comment, a White House spokesperson, Andrew Bates, said in a statement, “The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage.”

The White House initially provided a transcript of Biden’s remarks that purported to show him saying “supporters’ " - a plural possessive. A few hours later, the White House distributed a new transcript that used “supporter’s” - a singular possessive word that apparently refers to the comedian alone.

The change came after White House staff talked to the president, who conveyed that he meant to say the comedian’s language “was garbage,” according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.

In the meantime, Trump’s campaign seized on the moment, saying in an email: “Kamala Harris’ governing partner just insulted tens of millions of Americans. Will Kamala apologize and disavow Joe Biden’s remarks?”

By 9:31 p.m., Biden himself sought to clear up the situation.

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

[Harris promises to ‘represent all Americans’ after Biden’s remark on Trump supporters and ‘garbage’]

As for Biden, the president has a record of verbal gaffes that have long loomed over his life in public service - and which partly fueled the Democratic anxieties that precipitated his decision to end his reelection campaign this summer.

At the same time, Trump has for years vilified his political opponents with vicious and often offensive attacks, referring to Democrats as “communists,” “fascists,” and “far-left lunatics,” to name just a few of his favored pejoratives. He has spent recent weeks doubling down on his claim that there is an “enemy from within” the country, including specific Democratic officials.

Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico and Latinos - and Trump’s harsh rhetoric toward political opponents - have overtaken the final days of the White House contest. Trump and his campaign have sought to distance themselves from Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico insult, while the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has pointed to it as evidence that Trump remains focused on dividing the country.

Biden’s remarks came shortly before Harris was set to deliver her closing argument in a major speech Tuesday night in Washington. Biden was speaking during an early-voting call organized by Voto Latino, a Latino advocacy group that has endorsed Harris.

Asked for comment, a Trump campaign spokesperson pointed to a social media post from top campaign adviser Chris LaCivita, who cited Biden’s comment and said: “Remember … [Harris] hates you and they hate the American spirit vote accordingly.”

It is not the first time Biden has gone off-script while seeking to boost Harris after ending his own campaign. He caused controversy during a trip to New Hampshire last week when he referred to Trump and said, “We’ve got to lock him up.” He quickly added that he meant “politically lock him up.”

During a campaign stop Monday in Wisconsin, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, used a vulgarity while referencing Harris supporters who have drawn comparisons between Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally and a 1939 meeting of Nazi supporters there. Vance argued that U.S. soldiers fighting Nazi Germany would not have supported Harris’s platform.

“If you think those brave men were fighting for an open border and sex-change surgeries for illegal aliens,” Vance said, “the proper term for you is ‘dips---.’”

Vance responded to Biden’s comment on Tuesday night.

“This is disgusting,” Vance said on X. “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”

Democrats were not fully united in defending Biden late Tuesday night.

Asked about Biden’s comments on CNN, Josh Shapiro - the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, a critical swing state for Harris - did not dispute that Biden had disparaged Trump supporters.

“I had not heard that until now … so I’m kind of giving you my fresh reaction to it,” Shapiro said. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”

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Tyler Pager contributed to this report.