The White House on Wednesday sought to contain the damage from President Biden’s comments a day earlier suggesting former President Trump's supporters were garbage, remarks the president’s team continued to argue were being misinterpreted.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was hit with several questions at the top of her briefing about whether Biden had made a mistake with his comments and whether he thinks less of Americans who support Trump.

After reading Biden’s explanation posted on social media, in which he said “all I meant to say” was that rhetoric spewed by a comedian during Trump’s Sunday rally was garbage, Jean-Pierre insisted Biden was not calling the former president’s supporters garbage. She said he was instead referring to off-color and distasteful jokes told during the Trump event at New York City’s Madison Square Garden that have been roundly criticized.

“He has said multiple times that he is a president for all. It doesn’t matter if you live in a red state. It doesn’t matter if you live in a blue state. … It doesn’t matter who you voted for. It doesn’t matter if you voted for him or not. He is a president for all,” Jean-Pierre said, adding “hateful rhetoric” should be called out.

Pressed that this isn’t the first time the White House has had to defend or clarify a Biden comment, Jean-Pierre said that “nobody here is defending.”

Vice President........

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