Sen. Joe Manchin, the centrist who tanked President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, blamed White House staffers for the collapse of negotiations. The West Virginia Democrat said Monday that Biden administration officials drove him to support provisions of the bill they knew he opposed and tacitly supported protesters badgering him on his Washington, D.C., houseboat and around the nation’s capital.

“They drove some things, and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable,” Manchin told the Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval podcast on Monday. “They know what it is, and that’s it.”

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