BIDEN FLIP-FLOP: Biden Signals Support for Defunding the Police

Joe Biden Changes His Tune; Shows Support for Defund the Police Movement

Posted on Jul 8, 2020

Over the past five decades in Washington, Joe Biden has tried to position himself as a moderate.

However, anytime he opens his mouth, Biden proves otherwise.

Biden supports:

  • Free healthcare for illegal immigrants
  • A ban on fossil fuels and fracking
  • A Medicare public option, leading to the elimination of private insurance
  • Taxpayer-funded abortion

Now Joe Biden is folding to the likes of Alexandria Ocasio Cortes and Ilhan Omar who have repeatedly called for dismantling America’s ‘system of oppression.’

How is Biden going to do that? By joining calls to defund the police.

From Fox News:

Joe Biden said in an interview Wednesday that some funding should “absolutely” be redirected from police, amid calls from some in his party to “defund the police” in the wake of the protests across the country.

Biden’s campaign has said he does not support defunding the police. But in a Now This interview with activist Ady Barkan, the presumptive Democratic nominee said that police forces don’t need surplus military equipment, saying this is what leads them to “become the enemy” in a community.

“But do we agree that we can redirect some of the [police] funding?” Barkan asked Biden.

“Yes, absolutely,” said the former vice president.

Biden went on to call for police reforms.

“One of the things that we also need to be doing is fundamentally changing way we deal with our prison system,” he said. “It should be a rehabilitation system, not a punishment system. We’re going to make sure you’re qualified for every single right you had before you went to prison if you served your time.”

However, this is in complete contrast to the campaign’s official position less than a month ago.

More from Fox News:

In early June, the Biden campaign said that Biden does not believe that police should be defunded.

“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded,” Biden campaign Rapid Response Director Andrew Bates said at the time. “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.”

Bates added that Biden supports “the urgent need for reform,” which he said includes “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.”

The Biden campaign has pointed to the former vice president’s criminal justice plan, which proposes an additional $300 million for community policing. Bates said that the funding would “improve relationships between officers and residents” and would “provide the training that is needed to avert tragic, unjustifiable deaths.”

“This funding would also go toward diversifying police departments so that they resemble the communities in which they serve,” Bates added, noting that there is need for “additional funding for body-worn cameras.”

In response to Biden’s new comments, Trump 2020 campaign rapid response director Andrew Clark wrote on Twitter it looked like Biden had “changed his position” on defunding police, adding a clip from the Now This interview.