Fox News host Harris Faulkner challenged Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna on efforts to defund and reimagine policing while violent crime surged out of control.
Faulkner argued that it was fine to work for police reform, but that defunding police while violent crime raged in the streets suggested misplaced priorities. (RELATED: ‘You Can Make Everything About Race’: Harris Faulkner Fires Back When Guest Claims Teen Vogue Editor’s Race Played A Role In Ouster)
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Faulkner began by asking Khanna about his support for the Justice in Policing Act, questioning whether cities ought to take steps to combat the rise in violent crime first.
“It seems like the shootings by cops get a lot more attention than other types of killings in this country when one clearly outweighs the other. Can we keep that in mind and also keep in mind of the numbers how violent things are getting?” Faulkner asked, noting that children killed by criminals did not get the same attention and name recognition as people who were killed by police.
“Why is that happening among particularly democrat-led cities? I will ask my team to pop some of this up. Those defund cities are having a mighty struggle right now,” Faulkner continued. “It doesn’t get the same kind of outrage from people in your party that a cop-involved shooting does. Why?”
Khanna said that he believed any loss of life should be met with outrage and that violent crime certainly needed to be addressed.
“When I talk to law enforcement in my district what they tell me is some of the reforms that are in the justice and policing act actually will de-escalate situations. It is not just that they will help civilians. It will be good for police. Police don’t want those situations,” Khanna continued, saying that his goal was to reach an agreement on common sense reforms that would ultimately protect both civilians and police.
Khanna went on to list some of the things in his bill that he believed were representative of such common sense reforms: banning choke holds and allowing use of force only as a last resort.
“With all due respect. Choke holds and all that, I mean, yes! Talk about all of it,” Faulkner replied. “But those children who are slaughtered in Chicago weekend after weekend after weekend — who look like me — aren’t dying from choke holds. It’s violent crime.”