President Trump’s reelection campaign accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday of tacitly endorsing growing calls for cities and local governments to defund police departments, saying that the former vice president has effectively “turned his back on law enforcement.”
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Trump’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh, cast Biden as unwilling to stand up to “the most extreme elements” in the Democratic Party, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who have backed calls to defund police departments amid widespread civil unrest over the deaths of black people in police custody.
Biden has remained relatively quiet on those demands — a response that Murtaugh said amounted to an implicit endorsement of the movement.
“As the protesters like to say, silence is agreement,” Murtaugh said. “By his silence Joe Biden is endorsing defunding the police.”
Also on the conference call on Monday was Carolyn Bunny Welsh, a former sheriff of Chester County, Pa., and delegate to the Republican National Convention, who said that Biden “owns” the movement to defund police departments.
“In my opinion, Joe Biden has said he’s turning his back,” she said. “This is a ridiculous movement to try to defund or eliminate local law enforcement. It will do nothing but create chaos.”
Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign, pushed back against the accusations in a statement on Monday, saying that the former vice president does not believe in defunding law enforcement and pointing to his call for a $300 million investment for a community policing program.
“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded,” Bates said. “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.”
Murtaugh’s attacks come as Republicans — including Trump himself — look to promote a law-and-order message at a time of political uncertainty for the president’s reelection. Polls in recent weeks have shown Trump losing ground to Biden, both nationally and in a handful of critical battleground states.
For more than a week, Trump has also faced waves of protesters outside the White House calling for an end to police brutality and broader reforms to how law enforcement treats communities of color.
In accusing Biden of tacitly supporting calls from some activists and officials to shift funding away from police departments and toward community programs, the Trump campaign is seizing on an issue that they believe could spell serious trouble for Biden and Democrats later this year.
A Yahoo News-YouGov poll released last week showed little support among Americans for cutting police department budgets, with roughly two-thirds — 65 percent — saying they oppose reducing law enforcement budgets. Only 16 percent of Democratic respondents said they support such an idea.
Still, in a few cities across the country, local governments have already begun eyeing potential cuts to police departments. In Minneapolis, where the police killing of 46-year-old George Floyd last month kicked off the recent protests, the City Council vowed on Sunday to “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department.”
And in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) tweeted on Sunday that the city has committed to shifting resources “from the NYPD to youth and social services as part of our City’s budget.”
Murtaugh condemned those actions on Monday, calling the remarks from local leaders “a movement away from supporting law enforcement.”
“They are screaming about dismantling and defunding the police, and Joe Biden has said nothing about it,” he said.