Tipsheet

White House Cleans Up Biden's Remarks During Eid al-Fitr Event

The White House’s official transcript of an event Monday celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, cleaned up some of President Biden’s more awkward gaffes, such as what he called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and the Quran.

After flubbing his pronunciation of athlete Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Biden went on to acknowledge some of the Muslim lawmakers in attendance, including Omar, whom he repeatedly called “congressman.”

The official White House record does not reflect what he actually said, however.

We also have members of the House of Representatives here. 

Congresswoman Omar.  Where are you, Congresswoman Omar?

REPRESENTATIVE OMAR:  Right here.

THE PRESIDENT:  There you go.  God love you.  (Laughter.)

I’m not supposed to — I’ll get in trouble for saying this, but you look beautiful tonight.  (Applause.)

Biden then went on to mispronounce the Quran, though again, the transcript does not reflect what he said, also adding a "the" before "Heavens" where he missed it. 

Today, there are 3.5 million of you in the United States.  You come from different ethnicities, races, speak different languages, but you’re united all as Americans.

You know, the Quran teaches that, “One of His [highest] signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the diversity of our languages and colors.”  Well, I believe that to be true.