Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Jen Psaki on how Democrats can say they aren’t the party of defunding the police when Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush advocated for the policy recently.
During the press conference, Doocy pointed out that Biden claimed that the party was against defunding police just a few weeks ago. However, Bush said Thursday that she spends tens of thousands of dollars on private security for herself but that people needed to “suck it up” and defund the police departments. (RELATED: Biden Responds To Question About Defunding Police By Asking About Democrats ‘Sucking Blood Out Of Children’)
“Didn’t President Biden say a few weeks ago that anyone who accuses the party of being anti-police is lying?” Doocy asked.
HERE WE GO: Peter Doocy asks Jen Psaki about Congresswoman Cori Bush saying people need to “suck it up” and #defundthepolice and how that squares w/Biden insisting Democrats is not the #defundthepolice party. An annoyed Psaki then accuses him of “losing the forest thru the trees” pic.twitter.com/pQz8MoCYeo
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2021
“I think we shouldn’t lose the forest through the trees here,” Psaki responded. “Which is that a member of congress, an elected official, is concerned that her life is threatened. And that’s disturbing, that any elected official would have to suffer death threats and fear for their life.”
The press secretary added that she would not comment “on their security arrangements.”
“I will say that the president has been crystal clear that he opposes defunding the police,” she continued. “He has said that throughout his campaign for office, his record over the past several decades has made that clear, he has proposed increased funding for law enforcement … from his predecessor, who was, as you might note or be aware of, a Republican.”
Psaki said that some in the Democratic party may support defunding the police but it is not a popular position within the party as a whole.
“There may be some in the Democratic party, including Congresswoman Bush, who disagree with him. That’s okay,” she said. “But I would say the majority of Democrats – we’ve seen this in polling – and the majority of members also agree that we should not defund the police.”