Joe Biden took direct aim at President Trump during his remarks on the protests and looting that have engulfed many major U.S. cities.
“The president of the United States must be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” the former vice president said Tuesday morning. “But this president today is part of the problem and accelerates it.”
His speech constitutes the most direct response to Trump’s handling of the protests and subsequent violence following the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis resident killed by the police while unarmed on May 25.
“When he tweeted the words when the looting starts the shooting starts, they weren’t the words of the president, they were the words of a racist Miami police chief in the 1960s,” Biden said, referencing Trump’s controversial tweets over the last week.
Biden pledged to “seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country,” which has transformed into “a nation in pain,” under Trump’s tenure.
“The country is crying out for leadership. Leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. Leadership that can recognize pain and deep grief of communities that have had a knee on their neck for a long time,” he said. “There’s no place for violence, no place for looting, or destroying property or destroying churches or destroying businesses.”
