President Trump Condemns Democrats For ‘Defunding’ Police In New Package
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald Trump has condemned alleged plans by Democrats to dismantle and defund the police at a time when the nation faces riots following the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died in police custody.
“LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE,” President Trump wrote on social network site Twitter. He added later: “We won’t be dismantling our police.” Trump, who met with law enforcement officials at the White House, also characterized Democrats as having “gone CRAZY!”
Trump’s comments came as House and Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled the most ambitious law enforcement reform from Congress in years. Amid the turmoil in an election year, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he opposes “defunding” police departments. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the Democrats said such decisions fall to local governments.
Her remarks came as music to the ears of nine members of the Minneapolis City Council. They announced Sunday that they sought to dismantle the city’s police department after Floyd died while being detained by Minneapolis police.
The ‘Justice in Policing Act 2020’ presented by Pelosi and more than 200 Democratic co-sponsors would tackle this kind of abuse. It creates a national database of excessive-force incidents, bans police chokeholds, and prohibits individual no-knock warrants, among other initiatives.
And the bill contains several provisions that would make it easier to sue officers for misconduct in civil and criminal court. It would become easier to prosecute officers who are involved in “reckless” misconduct. The bill changes “qualified immunity” protections to more broadly enabling damage claims against police in lawsuits.
A long-sought federal anti-lynching bill that has stalled in Congress is included in the package. It remained uncertain whether the legislation would receive enough votes ahead of a highly polarized election period.
Besides discussing the legislation, House Speaker Pelosi and other members of Congress held a moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall. They were reading the names of Floyd, and many others who were said to have been killed during police interactions. The lawmakers knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds —the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer’s knee before he died.
They gathered while former officer Derek Chauvin was formally charged Monday with the murder in Floyd’s death. He appeared via videoconference during which a judge set his bail at $1.25 million without conditions or $1 million with terms.
The hearing coincided with a final public memorial in Houston for Floyd, who will be buried next to his mother in a cemetery in Pearland, Texas, on Tuesday. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, traveled to Houston to meet with family before Floyd’s burial, according to Biden’s campaign.
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