WASHINGTON – President Biden made a strong defense of the FBI in a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and called on allies of former President Donald J. Trump for not condemning the attackers of law enforcement during the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
During a visit to a key pivot country, Mr. Biden looked at the political vulnerabilities to the White House – increased policing and crime – and saw them as strengths ahead of the November congressional elections. .
“It’s appalling to see new attacks on the FBI,” Biden said, referring to a number of Republicans who have called for “sabotaging” or even “destroying” the FBI over the Mar. -a-Lago of Mr. Trump on August 8.
“I oppose bringing down the police,” the president added, speaking at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. “I’m also opposed to bringing down the FBI”
Refresh one a series of legislative victoriesMr. Biden has become increasingly emphatic as he tries to maintain his party’s control of Congress in the midterm elections. Tuesday’s visit is the first of three trips he’ll take to Pennsylvania over the span of a week; states are holding important elections for the House and Senate as well as governor in November.
Mr. Biden will arrive in Philadelphia on Thursday to give a rare golden hour speech about what the White House calls “the battle for the soul of the nation,” returning to the subject of democracy at stake he used during the 2020 presidential campaign.
In a speech at a Democratic National Committee rally in Maryland last week, Mr. Biden delivered his strongest condemnation to date of what he called “MAGA extremist” Republicans and he praised. its administration’s success on issues like climate change, guns, jobs, and the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, he launched an attack against allies of Mr. Trump, who continue to hold the Republican Party tight.
“Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you don’t condemn what happened on the 6th,” he said. Biden said, referring to the January 6 attacks. “For God’s sake, whose side are you on?”
Mr. Biden also pointed to the billions of dollars he is willing to invest in law enforcement agencies and pass a bipartisan gun bill to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms. He said he was determined to ban assault weapons in the country, detailing how families struggled to identify the bodies of children killed in the wake of a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
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The president, who said he has two handguns at home, insists he is not opposed to owning guns.
In fact, we should consider responsible gun owners as examples of how every gun owner should behave.
Mr. Biden has long tried to distance himself from his party with defamation calls to the police – a message stemming from protests demanding racial justice in 2020 demanding systematic changes in policy. . Republicans have seized on those calls, which Mr. Biden never endorsed, to accuse his party of not doing enough to fight crime.
“The Biden Democratic agenda has made communities in Pennsylvania less safe, and this is why Pennsylvanians will be voting for a new direction in November,” said Ronna McDaniel, chair of the committee. National Republican said.
Trump is also expected to visit Wilkes-Barre later this week, with a rally planned for Saturday in support of the Republican candidates.
In his remarks Tuesday, Mr. Biden described how his 2023 budget request includes funding to hire 100,000 new officers. He said he has encouraged state and local leaders to pull from $350 billion in funds to support local law enforcement. And in a nod to Democrats who have called for police departments to be more accountable, Biden also said local officials have used pandemic relief funds to expand community-based violence prevention programs.
Some progressive Democrats, however, have worried that Biden’s focus on police funding has come at the expense of investments in police reform and leadership empowerment programs. lead the community and health officials to stop crime without a police response.
While the administration says states have spent billions of dollars in pandemic relief funds on such initiatives, a report from the University of Illinois Chicago found that some local governments funneled money into police departments even when reporting expenditures as investments in community violence intervention programs.
According to the report, nearly a fifth, or about 18%, of the $79 million in pandemic relief funds were reported to the Treasury when community-based prevention investments in 2021 were announced. transferred to buy for police departments.
In Independence, Mo., officials spent pandemic funds earmarked for “community violence interventions” to equip officers with sniper rifles and ballistic helmets. In Alhambra, California, pandemic funds were used to put more drones in the sky, according to the report. Communities across the United States have used one-time pumped federal money to buy police technology and replace police vehicles.
“The history of funding policy in the United States is writing blank checks,” said Bree Spencer, senior program director at the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights, a legislative advocacy coalition. with billions of dollars without accountability. “That seems to be what we are doing now, so in no way is it indicative of police reform. It’s business as usual. “
A senior government official said the University of Illinois Chicago report analyzed only a fraction of the $10 billion in pandemic relief funds that local authorities say local governments have committed to both. police departments and community-based public safety programs.
In Houston, for example, $32 million went to mental health support and domestic violence prevention, according to the Biden administration. New York City officials told authorities that spending the pandemic fund to pay police salaries has freed up city funds to invest in summer employment programs and efforts to assist the homeless. .
