Kamala Harris distanced herself from Joe Biden's “garbage” gaffe today amid a very close election campaign, but the White House insists it's all about the apostrophe.

“Just to be clear, he did not call Trump supporters trash,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the start of Wednesday’s briefing, as the blast radius of Biden’s comments on a campaign Zoom call continued to grow last night, drawing contempt from people like Donald Trump. “He doesn’t view Trump supporters or anyone who supports Trump as trash.”

For a politician who has made verbal stumbles part of his trademark, Biden may have skipped his ideal successor's final push with voters by falling into the “he said, he really said” quicksand.

As the vice president concluded her well-received speech to about 70,000 supporters across the street from the White House on Tuesday evening, Biden sat inside and chatted with VoteLatino. In that call, the incumbent addressed comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's widely criticized disparaging comments about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of trash” at MAGAfest on October 27 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

“They are good, decent, honorable people,” a somewhat hesitant POTUS said of Puerto Ricans on Tuesday. “The only trash I see floating around out there is his supporters… his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

Biden quickly tried to retract his comment and posted a clarifying tweet about it. Additionally, the government released a transcript that labeled the comment “supporter” rather than “supporter” to single out Hinchcliffe.

Regardless, the reaction from the often insulting and foul-mouthed Trump and other Republicans was swift and harsh. Earlier today, Harris, in damage control mode, said: “Look, I think, first of all, he's clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Biden's ill-timed remarks dominated most of the news cycle overnight and well into Wednesday, less than a week until Election Day.

Given the close polls, Vice President Harris has put some distance between herself and the president several times today. “Listen, I think, first of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I object to any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” the vice president said before takeoff on the tarmac next to Air Force 2 Am On Wednesday there was a storm in the embattled states. Later at a campaign rally offstage, Harris repeated the remarks in a full-length interview with ABC News World news tonight later today – – which the network previewed this afternoon.