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Team Trump: Biden Camp’s Anti ‘Defund The Police’ Statement Too Weak, He Needs To Speak Up

   DailyWire.com
Democratic presidential candidate, and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the unrest across the country from Philadelphia City Hall on June 2, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, contrasting his leadership style with that of US President Donald Trump, and calling George Floyds death a wake-up call for our nation.
Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images

Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for the Trump campaign, blasted presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden for relegating a staffer to the role of speaking out against the “defund the police” movement instead of outright condemning the policy himself.  

“Joe Biden cannot be let off the hook after his campaign issued a weak statement from a mid-level staffer.  We still haven’t heard from Joe Biden himself on the radical ‘Defund the Police’ movement in the Democrat Party.  It would have been the simplest thing in the world to stick his name on a statement, but he didn’t even do that,” said Murtaugh. 

“Until Americans hear from Joe Biden himself, they have no way of knowing where he really stands. Joe Biden is the leader of his party and he could single-handedly step in and steer elected Democrats away from this terrible policy, which invites chaos in American communities, but he has remained secluded in his basement saying nothing. The ‘Defund the Police’ train has already left the Democrat station, and Joe Biden is merely a weak passenger,” he said. 

As The Daily Wire previously reported, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender revealed over the weekend that a veto-proof majority of the city council favors disbanding the local police department in order to “recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

As the policy received increased attention, Biden campaign rapid response director Andrew Bates suggested on Monday that the former vice president’s stance on defunding police departments has already been made clear from his prior statements. 

“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe the police should be defunded,” said Bates in a written statement. “He hears and shares the deep grief and frustration of those calling out for change, and is driven to ensure that justice is done and that we put a stop to this terrible pain.”

“Biden supports the urgent need for reform — including funding for public schools, summer programs, and mental health and substance abuse treatment separate from funding for policing — so that officers can focus on the job of policing,” the statement continues. “This also means funding community policing programs that improve relationships between officers and residents, and provides the training that is needed to avert tragic, unjustifiable deaths.”

Over the weekend, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was ostracized from a demonstration after a protester with a microphone turned the crowd against him for refusing to endorse defunding the local police department. As the mayor walked away from the protest, members of the crowd erupted into chants of “Go home. Go home, Jacob, go home” and “shame.”

The mayor told a local CBS News-affiliate after he was sent away that he is for “massive structural reform” but could not back “abolishing the entire police department.”

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