Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration will increase funding for law enforcement, rejecting Democrat and left-wing calls to “defund the police,” offering his comments in an interview on Tuesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
Marlow asked about ongoing rioting, violent protests, and vandalism in large cities.
“The executive branch has become increasingly aggressive in trying to restore law and order to our cities, which are frankly in disrepair,” Marlow said. “Could you explain some of the administration’s policies and some of the developments that are taking place in real time?”
Pence replied, “The president and every administration comes in with the core obligation to see that laws are faithfully executed, and that begins with law and order, and this president made it very clear early on, whether it be in the wake of the the tragedy of George Floyd’s murder, where justice will be served, where we saw Minneapolis being overrun, the president called on the governor of Minnesota to bring peace to his streets to deploy the National Guard, or we would.”
Pence continued, “To his credit, the governor of Minnesota did just that. They quelled the violence. The president has said the exact same thing.”
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“State police in Oregon have been deployed, and the police department in Portland has been deployed,” said Pence of information in the most recent report he received on the status quo of unrest in Portland, Oregon. “We’ve seen violence being quelled in that city, and the president has said no federal law enforcement officials are leaving until we know the courthouse is secure and the streets are secure.”
Pence stated, “That’s what leadership looks like.”
Pence remarked, “When President Trump says to these cities that have been overrun by rioting and violence against innocent civilians, attacks on law enforcement and property, the president called on leadership in those cities [and] in those states to do their job, or we would do it.”
President Donald Trump will deploy federal forces as needed to protects lives and property, Pence stated.
“Operation Legend — named after a little boy who literally was shot and killed in his home, a four-year-old little boy — it was born of the president’s determination that we are going to deploy federal resources [and] federal law enforcement personnel into cities where violence is taking the lives of people, innocent civilians in every community, our African American community, and impacting every family in our major cities, and we will continue to do that.”
Pence went on, “We’ll continue to support law enforcement, not only through Operation Legend, but through the COPS program that permitted the hiring of some 4,000 police officers.”
Trump will increase funding for law enforcement to improve capacity, training, and accountability, Pence said.
“In the wake of that tragedy in Minneapolis now many weeks ago, President Trump has made it clear that we’re going to give more resources to law enforcement to improve public safety, to improve officer training, and accountability.”
Pence concluded, “We’re not going to defund the police. We’re going to fund law enforcement. We’re going to back the blue, even while we work to improve public safety and improve the lives of all of the families in our cities, all of the minority families, African American, Hispanic American, and every family impacted by the scourge of violence that’s frankly gone on for too long in too many American cities.”
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