This is very bad. The White House is scrubbing embarrassing information from official US records. They took the time to alter a transcript, deleting a critical question. It’s time for us to pay special attention.
Remember last week’s horrific press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin? Yes, it’s only been a week. We saw terrible moments, but along with Trump denying American sources and siding with Russia, there was this question and answer:
Reuters reporter Jeff Mason: President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?
Russian President Vladimir Putin: [English translation] Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.
This is a big deal. Putin admitted publicly that he supported Trump and acted to help his election. The implication was that Putin still supports Trump and will do the same during this election.
This was a live, worldwide broadcast. You can see it yourself in the recordings.
Except. Here’s the official White House transcript:
Q And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?
PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted.) Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.
Notice the White House left out the first part? It changes the answer from, “Yes, I acted to elect Donald Trump as the American President,” to “Yes, I had my people help with this summit.” The meaning changes completely.
Now, accidents happen. It’s a transcript. The Atlantic magazine asked the White House about the omission. Instead updating the omission, the White House doubled down. They not only didn’t fix the omission, they released their own recording that obscured the reporter’s audio during that first half of the question, leaving only the second half audible, “…And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?”
The White House just deliberately deleted a thing that really happened because they were too embarrassed to admit it really happened. They were told, and they reinforced the altered, false version. They deliberately forged an official federal record. I think that’s a felony.
The original, unaltered video is available everywhere. It was covered by hundreds of reporters and broadcast live around the world. There is no question what anyone there said.
In case you wondered, the official Russian transcript of the press conference deleted the entire Reuters question along with Putin’s incriminating answer. It’s simply gone. No careful forgeries for Putin.
MSNBC has been covering this defacement in detail, but they missed how widely the fake story has spread. The Atlantic first reported the White House forgery back on July 17th (the day after the press conference) in “The White House Transcript Is Missing the Most Explosive Part of the Trump–Putin Press Conference.” I just looked at the transcripts on major media sites (it’s July 24th as I write this). Both the Washington Post and the New York Times are publishing the altered White House transcript. Still. Neither paper has stories about the deletion. Reuters isn’t covering the fake WH transcript, but they don’t have their own transcript that I can find, either. On the plus side, Vox and NPR have the correct transcripts. I’m not sure what source they used. They might have transcribed it themselves; neither site writes about the White House corrupted version.
The White House is attempting to change the official government records of an important event. And it’s just stupid. This isn’t a ‘he said/she said’ thing: anyone can watch the actual press conference and see the truth for themselves. And yet someone in this administration felt they could commit this felony without going to jail shortly afterward. When challenged, they committed a second felony. They appear to believe they’re invulnerable.
It’s been a week now. Despite the Atlantic publishing exactly what the White House had done, none of the major media sources I can see are even covering the question. There’s a story on the forgery from News.com.au about it. Australia got the forgery, but not America?
Late today, Trump’s lawyers leaked more audio tapes. Oh, look! Shiny stuff! The recordings are delightfully lurid, embarrassing, good television, and they don’t matter! None of it will be admissible in court. But it’s all the press can talk about.
The Post and Times are still — right now — publishing the tampered transcript as if it was correct. The truth is important. That’s why Trump and hist stooges attack it so energetically. We need to get the truth right, but we’re not doing it very well so far.
