Update: The screen apparently went black while he responding to a viewer's question, prompting him to say he "lost that line." Telemundo tweeted, “Noticias Telemundo has never allowed someone who is being interviewed on its news programs to read answers from a teleprompter which would be a clear violation of its editorial policies and standards.”
Original Story:
Joe Biden relies heavily on using a script. It was painfully obvious during his “surprise” video call choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate, and many other teleprompter glitches have exposed it in other settings. Fox News’s Bret Baier recently tried to get an answer out of Biden’s campaign press secretary TJ Ducklo as to whether the Democratic presidential nominee has ever used one during “local interviews or to answer Q&As with supporters.”
While Ducklo refused to respond, Biden’s interview with Telemundo’s José Diaz-Balart last week initially appeared to provide the answer.
The exchange happened as the two were discussing deportations with a viewer, who asked about the “record-breaking number of immigrants being deported” under the Obama-Biden administration and wondered how those communities could feel reassured under a Biden-Harris administration.
“There are going to be no deportations in the first 100 days of my campaign,” Biden replied.
Diaz-Balart jumped in, “Let me get that right. You’re going to freeze deportations?”
“Freeze deportations for the first hundred days,” Biden clarified. “And the only people who will be deported are people who committed a felony while here. That’s number one.”
He then looks to someone off-camera and says, “OK, I lost that line…”
Diaz-Balart then tells him it’s alright “because we can talk you and I on that.”
Joe Biden Tells Someone off Camera During Interview: ‘I Lost That Line’ https://t.co/8cJZReePee
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 21, 2020
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct where the line of questioning originally came from - a viewer not the interviewer. The original headline also incorrectly said the exchange happened during a Univision interview rather than a Telemundo one. Townhall regrets the errors.