Joe Biden speaks to reporters Sept. 8, 2020 (Video screenshot)
Asked to clarify whether or not he wants to defund police, Joe Biden told reporters at a campaign stop Tuesday in Pennsylvania it's President Trump who wants to defund police.
"I not only don't want to defund the police, I'm the one calling for $300 million more for local police, for community policing. I also think we should add social workers and psychologists – help police on 9-1-1 calls," he said.
"The only person calling to defund the police is Donald Trump," Biden said. "Look at his budget. He calls for cutting police funding for local – state and local help – by $400 million. Once again, he's pathological."
When Biden made the claim about Trump last month in his first joint interview with vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, ABC News did a fact check.
ABC pointed out Trump is vehemently against defunding the police, contending it would lead to anarchy.
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks in support of the Farmers to Families Food Box distribution program Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, at Flavor First Growers and Packers in Mills River, North Carolina. (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)
"We won't be dismantling our police. We won't be disbanding our police. We won’t be ending our police force in a city," Trump said at a White House event in June. "I guess you might have some cities that want to try, but it's going to be a very, very sad situation if they did, because people aren't going to be protected."
See Biden's remarks on defunding police:
Biden's claim that Trump wants to cut police funding is a reference to a proposed budget cut of $465.8 million to the Office of Justice Programs, which provides grants to communities for different public safety issues.
One of its feature programs is the the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program, which was created by the 1994 crime bill that Biden wrote as a senator. The program, which Politico said had "questionable success," provides hiring grants for community-based policing.
ABC said it's unclear how much COPS funding will be cut because Trump and Congress have yet to agree on a 2021 budget.
In any case, ABC said, Trump has made it clear he doesn't want to defund police and cited a statement from Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh.
"Joe Biden doesn't have a leg to stand on regarding police funding," Murtaugh said.
"It is an objective fact that federal funding for state and local law enforcement has risen under President Trump, while it fell dramatically while Joe Biden was vice president," he said.
Murtaugh said Democrats "only want to talk about one program – COPS – which also fell while he was VP after they made a 2008 campaign promise to fully fund it."
The Congressional Research Service confirmed to ABC that funding for the COPS program did fall while Biden was vice president. CRS said, however, that the decrease in funding was mostly due to decisions made by Congress to restructure.
Biden, after remaining silent for some time about the Black Lives Matter demand, began declaring he does not support defunding police.
"No, I don't support defunding the police," he said in a June interview with CBS News. "I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community."
However, in an interview in July, Biden said he would favor "redirecting" some of the funding for police.
As crime skyrockets in US cities, Joe Biden sides with radicals by calling police “THE ENEMY” and says “YES, ABSOLUTELY” he will cut police funding.
DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FEEL SAFER? pic.twitter.com/xE2gI6Bqp0
— Marc Lotter - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@marc_lotter) July 8, 2020
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