Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday tried to separate herself from President Biden after he made muddled remarks that appeared to call supporters of former President Donald J. Trump “garbage.”
“Let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Ms. Harris told reporters as she prepared to board Air Force Two outside Washington, D.C., although she said Mr. Biden had “clarified his comments.”
Ms. Harris has been pressed to distance herself more broadly from Mr. Biden, an unpopular incumbent who is also her boss, putting her in a difficult position. Her campaign has resisted having them appear together on the trail. Mr. Biden is seen as an undisciplined communicator, and his comments on Tuesday undercut a speech Ms. Harris delivered that same night in which she made unity a major theme.
Her response on Wednesday — quickly pivoting to her campaign trail schedule and her plans for the economy — made it clear that she and her campaign would like to move on from Mr. Biden’s comments. The Trump campaign has made equally clear its intention to keep the remarks in the news cycle.
On Sunday, Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and Trump supporter who spoke at the Trump rally in New York, had made a joke onstage that disparaged Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Mr. Biden tried to denounce that racist language in a video call with Hispanic supporters on Tuesday night. But he garbled his words, saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
The White House and Mr. Biden later argued that he was describing the racist language as “garbage,” not Trump supporters.
Mr. Trump and his allies unleashed a torrent of criticism.
Shortly after Mr. Biden’s remarks went viral on social media, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida came onstage at Mr. Trump’s rally in Allentown, Pa., on Tuesday night and relayed the president’s remarks to the crowd, amid a chorus of boos. The Trump campaign quickly tried to tie Mr. Biden’s comments to Hillary Clinton calling some Trump supporters “deplorables” in 2016 and sent out fund-raising messages referencing the controversy.
With the election six days away, both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are campaigning across the battleground states and making frequent media appearances. On Wednesday, Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump will both head to North Carolina and Wisconsin to rally with their supporters. (The vice president will also hold a rally in Pennsylvania.) Their running mates are also fanning out across the swing states and airwaves.
On Wednesday, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Ms. Harris’s running mate, rejected the notion that Mr. Biden had undermined Ms. Harris’s closing message of unity.
“President Biden was very clear that he was speaking about the rhetoric,” not Trump supporters, Mr. Walz said on CBS News, nodding to Mr. Biden’s attempt to clarify his statement on social media.
Mr. Biden had written on X: “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
Ms. Harris also told reporters on Wednesday that she and Mr. Biden had spoken the previous night, but not about his remarks.
“He did call me last night, but this didn’t come up,” she said.
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