“Is that not proposing to defund the police?”: Reporter questions Mike Johnson at “Police Week” presser on GOP budget.
A reporter questioned Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) at a House GOP press conference honoring “Police Week” about Republicans’ proposed budget cuts to federal funds for law enforcement.
Johnson repeatedly criticized Democrats throughout the press conference for not being tough on crime or supporting police enough.
“Speaker Johnson, we’ve heard a lot this week about Democrats supporting ‘defund the police.’ The Republican Study Committee budget cuts the main federal grant program that local departments use to hire officers. How is that not proposing to defund the police?” a reporter asked when the event opened up to questions from journalists.
“I haven’t looked into the details of the RSC budget,” Johnson replied. “There’s lots of nuances. They also plus up other areas where you support law enforcement because that’s a central theme of what we believe. It’s part of our worldview, it’s part of our party platform, and it will always be consistent.”
“You know, a lot of the Democrats in the House now are trying to revise history and pretend as though and even say that they never supported defund police,” the Speaker continued. “But I served on House Judiciary [Committee] and I have some pretty famous vignettes, viral videos, where I went through and literally took all the time reading all of their quotes.”
