Former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy offered an impassioned defense of Vice President Kamala Harris' record on policing on a Fox News show Tuesday.
During his show, Murphy criticized Republican candidate Donald Trump. Promising Instead of giving police officers “immunity from prosecution,” he argued that there are bad cops who should be brought to justice. Fox News host Martha MacCallum countered that only a “small percentage” of police officers need to be held accountable for their actions, and that Americans would feel safer if there was a greater police presence in their communities.
“You said it yourself. It only takes a small percentage of police officers to lose their lives, but a life lost, whether at the hands of a police officer or a murderer, is a loss of a life,” McCallum said. “It doesn't matter who lost their life. Both are criminals and they will be prosecuted in this country. When they break the rules, we see them. The history of bad cops is as old as our country, but that's not the issue. People feel that police officers are not respected in this country. I remember people throwing milk at police in New York City, people no longer feel safe in our streets. This is a fact.”
“But while Kamala Harris says she hates cops, she was an assistant district attorney for decades. [district attorney]”She was a progressive prosecutor as a district attorney and as attorney general, and she wrote a book called 'Smart on Crime,' and in that book she says we need to have more police on the streets, we need to have more police on the streets, and everybody will feel safer. That's a fact,” Murphy said.
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McCollum pointed at Harris. Co-organized by Murphy argued that Harris, while a U.S. senator, passed the Police Justice Act of 2020, which was intended to reform police immunity and amend federal criminal law to allow police misconduct to be prosecuted under a “reckless” standard rather than a “willful” standard. Murphy argued that Harris also passed a bill allocating $15 billion to police in the American Rescue Plan, which was passed in March 2021.
“Hasn’t she introduced a bill to strip police officers of their protections and lock them up if they commit a crime? [misconduct], And are you going to bankrupt the police union?,” McCollum asked. (Related: 'She didn't do a very good job': Judge Joe Brown slams Kamala Harris' record as San Francisco district attorney)
“She said Joe Biden passed a bill as his vice president that puts $15 billion into police in the American Rescue Package. That's a fact! $15 billion is $15 billion more police!” Murphy exclaimed.
Fox News host Trey Gowdy said Harris “didn't embrace” being a prosecutor when she helped post bail for Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
“Trey, that's not accurate. That's not accurate. She's written books about the death penalty, she's spoken out about it, she ran for attorney general and she supports the death penalty,” Murphy said.
McCollum said voters were questioning whether Harris was “soft on crime” or “tough on crime” after she prosecuted nearly 2,000 people on marijuana-related charges while she served as California's attorney general from 2011 to 2016. Harris has since come to support a “reimagining” of police and the 2020 “defund the police” movement, arguing for redirecting funding from police to areas of government including schools and small businesses. According to To ABC News.
Harris said Speaking to the New York radio show “Ebro in the Morning” in June 2020, she said the “defund the police” movement rightly calls into question the funding given to the police. In an interview the following day, she praised Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for cutting $150 million from the police budget in 2020 and reallocating the funds to social services. According to To CNN.
She also called for “demilitarizing police departments” and said it's “wrong and outdated” to suggest more police is the solution to crime, according to MSNBC. Interview From 2020.
The Biden-Harris campaign statement In 2020, Harris denied that she supported cutting the police budget.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not support defunding police and it is a lie to claim otherwise,” Sabrina Singh, Harris' press secretary, said at the time. “Throughout her career, Senator Harris has supported increasing funding for police and increasing funding for community policing.”
Harris' current campaign spokesman, James Singer, said on July 30 that Trump is the only one calling for cuts to the police budget, according to ABC News.
“The only candidate running for president who has ever advocated for defunding the police or proposed cutting funding to law enforcement is Donald Trump, a convicted felon. Vice President Harris has spent years working to prosecute criminals and get justice for victims, and she has supported increased funding to keep communities safe and hold convicted felons like Trump accountable. That's why violent crime in America is at a 50-year low today.”
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