CNN host Pamela Brown pressed presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ national campaign co-chair, Mitch Landrieu, Friday evening on the vice president’s stance regarding the “Defund the Police” movement.
Landrieu appeared on “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer” to discuss Harris’ previous comments from 2020 in which she stated during a radio show interview that police department budgets should be looked at in order to “figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.”
Following a clip of the interview, Brown asked Landrieu if the vice president still held the same beliefs. Landrieu first stated he did not believe Harris had the same stance as he laid out the Biden administration’s work with police, however, he later back tracked as Brown had continued to press the issue. (RELATED: Harris Praised ‘Defund The Police’ Movement Right Before Joining The 2020 Biden Ticket)
“But the bottom line is you said you did not believe that was still her position on what we just played. You laid out her position now,” Brown said.
Landrieu could be seen on camera shaking his head in response and beginning to say “no” before Brown then pivoted, asking him to explain Harris’ stance.
“Okay go ahead, so that is still her position? She wants to move money from police departments potentially —” Brown began.
“That’s not what I said. What I said was you have to consider those comments in context,” Landrieu pushed back.
Brown reminded Landrieu that he previously stated Harris was no longer for defunding the police, asking for a second time to clarify her position on the issue.
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“What I’m saying to you is that statement that you just played was played out of context,” Landrieu said. “Her position has always been that you can both be tough and smart on crime and it requires funding police, but it also requires funding, rehabilitation in things that make the criminal justice system safer. You can do both.”
Just two month prior to joining Biden’s ticket in 2020, Harris appeared on New York’s radio show “Ebro In The Morning” in June that year, discussing her stance on the movement. In addition to questioning the police budgets, Harris notably stated that the idea of getting “more safety by putting more cops on the streets” was wrong.
“But just for clarity’s sake, does she want to take money from police departments and potentially put them into the community services because that was what was part of that discussion,” Brown responded.
“And what I said was if you looked at her record as the vice president, that she actually gave more funding with President Biden to the police. So her actions indicate that she wants to fund the police, but she wants to do the other things as well because both of them together will create safety on the streets of America,” Landrieu concluded.
In 2020, Harris also notably praised Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for cutting $150 million from the police department’s budget and redirecting it to social services instead following the Black Lives Matter protests in the city, according to CNN.
However, after joining on to Biden’s campaign during the election, Harris appeared to have changed her position on the issue. By October 2022 Harris’ press secretary, Sabrina Singh, at the time stated the vice president did not support defunding the police, according to CNN.
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