President Joe Biden tried to paint Republicans as being anti-police on social media and in a Monday speech before black law enforcement executives.
“How can Congressional Republicans claim to be pro-police?” Biden asked in a Tuesday Twitter post. A graphic noted Biden’s support for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
How can Congressional Republicans claim to be pro-police? pic.twitter.com/4wMQbR7IEs
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 26, 2022
But Biden’s own vice president praised a Democratic mayor in 2020 for reducing his city’s police budget.
“I applaud Mayor Garcetti for doing what he’s done,” Vice President Kamala Harris said about Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti’s decision to seek a cut off $150 million from the Los Angeles Police Department during the 2020 campaign, according to the New York Post.
Biden also attacked Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, during a Monday speech at the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) over gun control and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building. (RELATED: John Kennedy Presses Biden Judicial Nominee Over Her Past Comments About Police)
“In the state you’re in today, Gov. DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Rick Scott all opposed banning assault weapons,” Biden said. “Sens. Scott and Rubio voted against the bipartisan gun safety bill that I signed.”
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“The police were heroes that day,” he said about the riot at the Capitol building. “Donald Trump lacked the courage to act.”
Rubio and Scott responded to Biden’s claims on Twitter.
“I am asking for your prayers that @potus will come to Florida to campaign against me,” Rubio said.
“Looks like @JoeBiden finally got my state right…but he’s still confused,” Scott posted. “Unlike him, we actually work with law enforcement & know what worries them most. It’s the Democrats’ radical anti-police agenda that poses the greatest threat to our brave police.”
Looks like @JoeBiden finally got my state right…but he’s still confused.
Unlike him, we actually work with law enforcement & know what worries them most. It’s the Democrats’ radical anti-police agenda that poses the greatest threat to our brave police. https://t.co/fGzOec75Xl
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) July 25, 2022
Other Democrats have tried to either deflect attacks over defunding police or to paint Republicans as anti-police due to opposing gun control.
“When he says I want to defund the police — I am the police!” Democratic Rep. Val Demmings of Florida, a former police chief running against Rubio, told Axios.
Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, who is running for the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman, featured a sheriff in an ad attacking Republican nominee J.D. Vance for calling for the abolition of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate running against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, ran an ad that targeted her opponent’s record on guns that featured a deputy sheriff. However, Abrams called for a “reallocation” of resources away from police during a June 2020 CNN appearance. She also served on the board of an organization that called for defunding law enforcement.
In a statement, Abrams spokesman Jaylen Black told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Abrams “does not and never has supported efforts to defund the police.”
“Stacey firmly believes in investing in law enforcement to ensure that no one is working in public safety without fair compensation and making sure we improve accountability and build trust within Georgia’s communities,” Black said.
Other prominent Democrats have called for defunding police and have praised cuts to police budgets.
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri continued calling for defunding the police after criticism from other Democrats, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, hired Dyjuan Tatro, who labeled the Capitol Police “white supremacists” in the aftermath of the riot at the Capitol.
The White House and Trump did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
This story has been updated with comments from the Abrams campaign.
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