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Disabled Activist Perfectly Shames Pro-Trump Congressman for Falsely Editing Words Into Biden Interview

Disabled Activist Perfectly Shames Pro-Trump Congressman for Falsely Editing Words Into Biden Interview
Handout/DNCC via Getty Images // Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

With the 2020 election only months away, President Donald Trump and his allies continue to put forth the false claim that Democratic nominee Joe Biden wants to defund the police.

Judging from a video posted by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), they're willing to falsify media in order to prop up the narrative.


Scalise posted a clip of Biden speaking with Ady Barkan, a notable activist for disabled rights and healthcare access.

Barkan lives with the neurodegenerative disease ALS, and is unable to speak using his own voice, so he relies on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which in his case is a computerized voice.

Scalise took advantage of that with the video, in which Barkan appears to ask Biden:

"But do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding for police?"

Biden responds:

"Exactly."

But Barkan never said the words "for police" at all.

Watch a comparison of the original video and the GOP's version below.

Barkan called out Scalise directly for posting the video, which was later flagged by Twitter and subsequently deleted.

Scalise responded on Twitter, conceding to remove the video but insisting that its premise was right.

In reality, Biden's plan actually offers expanded budgets to local police forces and seeks to pump more resources into the availability of social workers and other deescalation specialists to work within these departments.

Scalise was asked about the doctored video on Fox and Friends.

When asked about manipulating the video, Scalise said:

"Well, you know look, it shouldn't have been edited, but at the same time the comments were always about—in fact twice in that interview he asks Joe Biden if he was for redirecting money away from police and in both times Joe Biden said yes."

This isn't entirely accurate either.

In the interview, Barkan asks Biden if he'd be open to redirecting resources for some interactions that don't require militarized police officers, lessening the likelihood of potentially deadly interactions between armed police officers and unarmed Black Americans disproportionately targeted with police violence.

Watch below.

Joe Biden and Ady Barkan Discuss Police Reform and Mental Health Care | NowThiswww.youtube.com

Scalise was widely shamed for the deceptive tactic.





There were several who called for the Congressman to resign.




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