Nearly a week after his disastrous June debate performance, President Joe Biden did two much-hyped phone interviews with two radio stations. One of them was in Philadelphia, with the other one being in Milwaukee. Both were designed to appeal to black voters and quell any concerns about Biden’s supposed ability/inability to speak coherently in any setting, especially ones were not tightly controlled.
Neither interview did that. As we previously reported, both segments were pre-recorded. Further, both radio hosts, WURD’s Andrea Lawful-Sanders and Civic Media’s Earl Ingram, admitted after the fact that the Biden campaign submitted questions to them in advance of the interviews, most of which were used in the back-and-forth exchanges.
The fallout from those revelations was news from Philadelphia-based WURD that they had “parted ways” with Lawful-Sanders, adding that “WURD Radio is not a mouthpiece for the Biden or any other Administration.”
READ MORE: Biden Question Scandal Brings Consequences for Radio Host and Earns Scathing Response From Station
Civic Media, on the other hand, stood behind Ingram. Yet on Thursday, they issued a statement noting that the radio station had agreed with the Biden campaign’s request to edit two parts out of the interview before it aired:
Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based progressive talk-radio network, said Thursday it had agreed to make two edits to an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign before the broadcast aired, a decision the station said fell short of “journalistic interview standards.”
[…]
“On Monday, July 8th, it was reported to Civic Media management that immediately after the phone interview was recorded, the Biden campaign called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired. Civic Media management immediately undertook an investigation and determined that the production team at the time viewed the edits as non-substantive and broadcast and published the interview with two short segments removed,” the station said in a statement released on Thursday.
The radio station went on to clarify that these were the parts of the interview they agreed to take out (audio clips can be heard at that same link):
- At time 5:20, the removal of “…and in addition to that, I have more Blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions.”
- At time 14:15, in reference to Donald Trump’s call for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, the removal of “I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he–but they said […] convicted of murder.”
With all of that said, Civic Media also made clear that they still “unequivocally” support Ingram.
As for Joe Biden, there is no such thing as “unequivocal” support anymore, certainly not after that debate and not after the purported radio interviews done in the aftermath that were supposed to soothe the fears of nervous supporters – but which ended up backfiring big-time when it was revealed that they were scripted and edited, all at the urging of the Biden campaign.
Related: CNN’s Jim Acosta Weighs in on Biden ‘Napgate’ and Gets Exactly the Responses He Deserves
