WATCH – Mike Pence: ‘Black Lives Are Not Endangered by Police’ but ‘Saved by Police Every Day’

Black Americans are not endangered but saved by police officers every day, former Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday.

“You know, last August at Fort McHenry I told the American people that they wouldn’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America. And it grieves my heart to report to you, tonight in Hillsborough County, that murders have now increased by more than a third in our largest cities,” he stated in remarks given at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner hosted by the Hillsborough County Republicans in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Pence continued:

Democrat efforts to defund the police, withdraw support for law enforcement, has set off a violent crime wave that’s wreaking havoc in families all across the nation. Black lives are not endangered by police, black lives are saved by police every day. We don’t need to defund the police, we need to defend the police and reject the anti-law enforcement agenda of Joe Biden and the Democrats in Washington and put the lives of law-abiding citizens of every race, and creed, and color first.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized Democrats on Tuesday and described their far-left idea to defund police as “one of the dumbest ideas,” Breitbart News reported:

During the federal anti-drug program gathering, he thanked the law enforcement officers who were present for their hard work. He started by saying, ‘it’s been a tougher for law enforcement,” which is why he wanted to make it very clear he is “a strong supporter of law enforcement across America.”

“I think the abuse that’s been heaped on law enforcement over the last year is unfortunate,” McConnell explained. This is why the Minority leader “think[s] defunding the police has got to be one of the dumbest ideas ever surfaced by anyone in our country. And we need what you’re doing.”

Meanwhile, a year after the defund police movement gained steam following the death of George Floyd, leaders of U.S. cities are walking back plans to cut police budgets due to surging crime, according to Breitbart News.