Donald Trump’s reelection campaign tweeted out doctored audio to make it sound like former Vice President Joe Biden called the coronavirus a “hoax” in an effort to draw attention to what it views as Twitter’s double standard in policing political speech.
The new Trump campaign video is styled after an ad released by the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, which featured audio of Trump describing the coronavirus as a “hoax.” Trump didn’t actually call the virus a hoax, he called Democrats trying to use it against him a hoax. Still, he said it at a rally while the virus was strengthening.
Trump’s campaign has flagged multiple Democratic videos for Twitter in which he is heard calling the coronavirus a “hoax,” arguing that the content runs afoul of the social media giant’s manipulated media guidelines. Twitter has declined to sanction the Democratic ads.
In the Trump campaign ad released Thursday, Biden can be heard saying: “The coronavirus is a hoax.”
Biden never called the coronavirus a hoax. The audio is deceptively spliced together from two different times that Biden spoke.
The Trump campaign is making the case that Democrats also deceptively edited audio to make it sound like Trump called the coronavirus a hoax.
The campaign released the new Biden audio to see if Twitter would enforce its manipulated media standards on both sides, or only on the Trump campaign.
“Twitter has so far effectively instituted a ‘Biden protection rule,’ refusing to apply their manipulated media label to video and audio of President Trump that every independent fact checker says is false,” a Trump campaign official said. “This tweet forces the issue and makes Twitter decide. It can enforce its arbitrary rules fairly and equally, or it can have its policy exposed as totally ineffective or a partisan sham. It’s their move.”
The media is giving a pass to a pro-Biden TV ad that doctors and deceptively edits audio of President Trump, even though every independent fact checker said President Trump DID NOT call the coronavirus a hoax.
Joe Biden, on the other hand? This sounds authentic… pic.twitter.com/YY6vN5gTM6 [1]
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) April 2, 2020 [2]
And here is the brilliant video Trump is so upset about:
Trump refused to take the threat of the coronavirus seriously, now he won’t take responsibility as his administration has been totally unprepared for this crisis. pic.twitter.com/Jdh1GY9HHS [3]
— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) March 23, 2020 [4]