White House responds to 'Defund the police' movement

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White House Press Secretary Kayleigh Mcenany responded on Tuesday to the 'Defund the Police' movement.

Video Transcript

KAYLEIGH MCENANY: I would like to end just by highlighting a troubling trend that I think we've seen play out across the country. And I believe we have a few graphics to illustrate this. It pertains to the defund the police movement. And when you look at across the country, the ties of defunding the police with increases in violence, it's a cause for concern.

As we saw in the beginning of this administration, violent crime was starting to come down and then bring in the defund the police movement. In Los Angeles, you had LA Mayor Eric Garcetti proposing a cut of $150 million from the LAPD. LA Mayor Garcetti said this starts someplace. And we have to say, we are going to be who we want to be. Or we're going to continue being the killers that we are with his, quote, "in support of the defund movement."

And as a result, we saw a 14% rise in homicides this year over last year. In Minneapolis, the defund the police movement was afoot, as well, with a unanimous vote in Minneapolis city and their council to dismantle the police. And you had Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison saying this is one action of many that we need to take on the road to a more equitable and just system that keeps people safe.

In fact, it did not keep people safe. We've seen a 94% increase in homicides compared to last year in Minneapolis. And then finally in New York City, defund the police-- you have the New York City Council voting to cut police budget by $1 billion. You had Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying defund the police means defunding the police. It does not mean budget tricks are funny math. So it wasn't enough for AOC.

But you did have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio saying we think it's the right thing to do. It was absolutely not the right thing to do, as we've seen a 177% increase in shootings from July 2019 in New York. When you defund the police, there are consequences. And that's where the Democrats of today stand. And unfortunately we've seen a corresponding rise in violence in these Democrat cities. And it's not acceptable.