President Joe Biden was right to claim critics were “lying” for tying Democrats to the “defund the police” movement, despite Missouri Rep. Cori Bush reiterating her call for defunding this week, according to the White House.
The majority of Democratic lawmakers and voters sided with Biden on police funding, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
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“There may be some in the Democratic Party, including congresswoman Bush, who disagree with him, that’s OK,” she told reporters Thursday. “It does not appear to be becoming a Democratic message, even though there might be a desire for that on the other side.”
Psaki also pointed to Biden’s proposals for more resources to be invested in “community policing” in excess of policies put forward by former President Donald Trump.
For Psaki, it is “disturbing” that Bush is so concerned about her personal safety amid death threats that she requires private security.
Bush irked centrist Democrats Thursday with her response to questions about spending $70,000 on private security while repeating the “defund the police” mantra.
“I’m going to make sure I have security,” Bush said in an interview. “I get to be here to do the work, so suck it up — and defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police.”
Two days earlier, Bush was lauded by liberal Democrats for successfully pressuring Biden into reversing his decision to extend the federal eviction moratorium for renters financially struggling during the pandemic. She forced Biden to order the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to prolong the national ban by staging a high-profile five-night sleep-in on steps of the Capitol.
The CDC issued a new 60-day moratorium this week for areas of the country most affected by COVID-19. The extension is already being legally challenged after the Supreme Court ruled in June Congress had to approve such a measure.
Biden was adamant last month that criticisms regarding Democrats being “anti-police” are unfounded, insisting proponents of the attack are “lying.”
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“I don’t know any community, particularly the communities that are in the most need and the poorest and the most at risk, that don’t want police. They want police, though, to look at them as equals. They want police to treat them in that way,” the president said.
