In this screenshot from the DNCC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, healthcare activist Ady Barkan addresses the virtual convention on August 18, 2020. Image by DNCC via Getty Images

(JTA) — A video of a discussion between health care activist Ady Barkan and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was doctored to make it appear that Biden had agreed to defund police departments.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the majority whip, tweeted out the video, which Twitter later flagged as manipulated before Scalise deleted it.

.@SteveScalise,

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

These are not my words.

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. https://t.co/N6G5RgMXlO

— Ady Barkan (@AdyBarkan) August 30, 2020

“I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts,” Barkan tweeted Sunday to Scalise. “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.”

Barkan supports the defunding of police. In the video, Biden expresses support for some police reform, including redirecting some funding into social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing, but says it is “not the same as getting rid of or defunding all the police.”

The video was altered to make it sound like Biden was agreeing to defunding.

Scalise in a tweet responded to Barkan.

“While Joe Biden clearly said “yes,” twice, to the question of his support to redirect money away from police, we will honor the request of @AdyBarkan and remove the portion of his interview from our video,” the lawmaker wrote.

Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine said in an email to The Washington Post that the video had been “condensed … to the essence of what he was asking, as is common practice for clips run on TV and social media, no matter the speaker” and said that viewers were not misled.

Barkan has emerged as one of the country’s most visible progressive activists for health care since 2017, when he was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

At the Democratic National Convention, Barkan delivered an impassioned speech calling for Medicare for All, a health care policy that Biden has not endorsed.

The post Manipulated video of health care activist Ady Barkan and Joe Biden talking police reform tweeted by GOP congressman appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount