ABC News has been accused of editing its Wednesday night interview with Joe Biden to flatter the president, removing mumbled statements and lapses of memory.
Biden's interview with George Stephanopoulos was criticized for his claim that the chaos in Afghanistan this week was inevitable.
But on Thursday, when the full transcript was published by ABC, it emerged that chunks of it were edited out.
Biden falsely claimed that his son Beau, who died of a brain tumor in May 2015, aged 46, had served in Afghanistan. He then corrected himself and said it was Iraq, but he also claimed Beau was in the Navy, when in fact he was in the Army.
The president again had to correct himself.
Joe Biden spoke to ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday night. On Thursday the transcript was published, which showed that parts of his remarks, where he tied himself in verbal knots, were not included
Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday night accused ABC of having edited out the exchange to make Biden appear less 'incoherent' and 'confused'
'Toward the end of his interview with ABC there was a telling exchange,' said Tucker Carlson, Fox News host, on Thursday evening.
'That exchange was never broadcast on camera.
'Now television networks edit interviews very often for time.
'But ABC News appears to have edited out portions that made Joe Biden look - how to put it. Not presidential. Incoherent. Confused.'
Carlson then read from the transcript.
Asked by Stephanopoulos why the U.S. could not have withdrawn from Afghanistan with dignity, Biden's response was jumbled.
'Look, that's like askin' my deceased son Beau, who spent six months in Kosovo and a year in Iraq as a Navy captain and then major-- I mean, as an Army major,' Biden said.
'And, you know, I'm sure h-- he had regrets comin' out of Afganista-- I mean, out of Iraq.
'He had regrets to what's-- how-- how it's going. But the idea-- what's the alternative? The alternative is why are we staying in Afghanistan? Why are we there?'
Biden on Wednesday referenced his son Beau (pictured in 2008), who served in the U.S. Army in Iraq. Biden mistakenly said he served in Afghanistan, in the Navy - and then corrected himself
Biden has struggled to overcome a stutter ever since he was a boy, and has been open about the challenges of public speaking, and the decades of work he put in to improving his presentation.
Yet Carlson suggested that the moment was more significant than a stutter.
'We think it's worth knowing what happened, especially in a moment of national crisis,' Carlson said.
'We are not attacking him, we are not telling you this with glee - we are telling you this because it's true.
'The scary thing about Afghanistan is that it reveals American weakness. And weakness begets aggression.'
He said that Biden's remarks revealed 'weakness at the heart of government.'
Journalist Michael Tracey remarked: 'Seems suspicious that ABC has only released a small fragment of video from this incredibly garbled transcript.'
And another Twitter user added: 'I support Pres. Biden's decision to depart Afghanistan despite the apparent incompetence in its execution.
'But reading this word salad interview transcript fits right along with the latter observation....'
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