Twitter on Sunday flagged a clip posted by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise as "manipulated media" because it changes a question an activist asks Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, The Hill reported.
The clip is included in a video the Louisiana Republican tweeted that accuses Democrats of encouraging violence, stating “No police. Mob rule. Total chaos. That’s the result of the Democrat agenda.”
The activist, Ady Barkan, who uses a computerized artificial voice due to his ALS, asked Biden if “we agree that we can redirect some of the funding” toward public safety and mental health services. “Yes,” Biden responds.
The clip Scalise tweeted, however, inserts the words “for police,” which Barkan stated earlier in the interview, into his question, using the same computer-generated voice.
Biden has repeatedly opposed proposals to defund the police.
In response to Scalise’s tweet, Barkan wrote on Twitter, "I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts. You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain. Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology."
Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine told The Verge it was clear that Barkan was asking if Biden was open to redirecting funding away from police.
"For a one-minute Twitter video featuring several short clips, we condensed that to the essence of what he was asking, as is common practice ... we paired the police portion with Barkan’s final question for clarity because we couldn’t include an entire 3-minute clip in a 1-minute montage," Fine said.
"We believe Biden’s position and answer is clear regardless: when asked twice, he says 'yes,' he is open to redirecting funding away from the police, and that is clear in our video."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.