Trump campaign says falsely manipulating Biden speech excerpt was a 'joke'

Twitter labels @TeamTrump post 'manipulated media'

Twitter labelled a post by Donald Trump's campaign "manipulated media" after his campaign's social media arm shared an edited clip of Joe Biden appearing to say "you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America".

The three-second clip, taken from the Democratic presidential nominee's remarks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Monday, was edited out of context, seizing on the campaign's attempts to link ongoing protests against police violence to the former vice president's party.

In his damning remarks, candidate Biden accused the current administration of "forfeiting moral leadership" and relying on fear while failing against "multiplying" crises, including police violence and the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.

"They have no agenda or vision for a second term," Mr Biden said in his unedited remarks. "Trump and Pence are running on this – and I find it fascinating – quote, 'You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America.' And what's their proof? The violence you're seeing in Donald Trump's America."

"These are not some imagined Joe Biden America future," he added. "These are images of Donald Trump's America today."

Team Trump, the president's campaign account, shared the deceptively edited clip in a post that said: "Joe Biden says 'You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America!'"

After several journalists shared the edited clip noting that the statement was taken out of context, the campaign said: "To all the triggered journalists who can't take a joke about their candidate, it's not our fault Joe Biden was dumb enough to say this on camera."

In a response to Mr Biden's speech, the Trump campaign's communications director Tim Murtaugh claimed that "it's almost impossible to tell where his campaign ends and antifa begins", despite Mr Biden's explicit denunciation of rioting, looting and burning buildings.

"You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," Mr Murtaugh added in his statement.