President Joe Biden accused Republicans of lying about Democrats having anti-police sentiments during a CNN town hall emanating from Cincinnati on Wednesday evening.
CNN host Don Lemon touched on a number of hot-button issues including the battle on voting bills, whether to end the filibuster, and anti-police ties.
Biden rejected the latter when asked how he would respond to Republicans who characterize Democrats as being anti-police, shown in a video posted on twitter.
“They’re lying,” Biden said.
Later in his response, he said, “I’ve never, never, never said defunding the police."
Don Lemon: "How do you respond to Republicans who try to paint you and your party as anti-police?"
— The Recount (@therecount) July 22, 2021
Pres. Biden: "They're lying." pic.twitter.com/3tPksfCYBV
Though Biden has never explicitly called to defund the police, other members of his party certainly have.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and more have all supported defunding the police in the past, Fox News reported.
Biden’s narrative that Republicans are lying about Democrats comes weeks after White House press secretary Jen Psaki sought to shift blame to Republicans for defunding the police.
Psaki said the following back in June, according to Fox News:
Well, the president did mention that the American Rescue Plan, the state and local funding, something that was supported by the president, a lot of Democrats who supported and voted for the bill, could help ensure local cops were kept on the beat in communities across the country. As you know, it didn’t receive a single Republican vote. That funding has been used to keep cops on the beat.
Polls indicate that only 18 percent of Americans now support the “defund the police” movement, the USA Today reported in March.
With this increasing disillusionment Americans have for the anti-police movement, it is no surprise that the Biden administration is aiming to blame Republicans and pivot away from the radical movement.